Students who see truancy officers or special educators would be logged on a national database under a proposal from the Education Review Office.
Yesterday, it released a report on how to help manage primary school students who move from school to school.
It recommended the Ministry of Education
look into developing a database of students who have had involvement with truancy officers or had received special educational help.
The ERO's acting national manager of analysis and reporting, Di Anderson, said such a database would allow schools across the country to access the information.
It would speed up the creation of programmes for the students at their new school.
"Because there is no database at present, children may well be tested afresh each time they go to a new school."
The ERO studied the way 11 primary schools across New Zealand supported transient students and their families.
Anecdotal evidence had suggested some New Zealand schools were hesitant about using resources - such as special education funding - on transient students.
The schools in the study, however, made the most of time available while the students were in their schools.
The New Zealand Council for Educational Research also released a report on the issue at a forum of the Office of the Commissioner for Children yesterday.
It showed students who change schools frequently show little difference in achievement rates and attitudes towards schooling compared to their less mobile classmates.
It found mobility was high in New Zealand. Around a quarter of the students sampled were frequent movers and some had been to as many as 15 different schools.
