Mr. MICHAEL CORDELL: So you can have a roadside reader simply powered using a solar panel sitting by the side of the road just collecting data, and it then transmits it back to the central system.

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He suggests that random testing of the monitoring system to determine how much data it's collecting could help ensure the program avoids privacy violations.

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"We're opening up a new paradigm for which there is no established system of collecting data, " de Soto says of the assessment stage of his efforts.

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Once the school system can teach to basic standards, it should pay more attention to collecting detailed data on examination results.

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The General Accounting Office notes that its figures are probably understated since there is still no national system for collecting data on pesticide exposure among schoolchildren.

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