The purpose of this document is to provide timely and useful best practice information to help education agencies understand the different uses and benefits of School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED). This guide was developed to provide a brief overview of SCED, highlight the research application and benefits of SCED to users, and…

Americans share an expectation that government will serve the common good, creating inescapable pressure for public agencies--especially those that serve young children--to perform well. Yet education and human services agencies continually struggle to respond to the complex conditions in which children are born. How can they address the practical…

This report shows how state leaders are using technological advances to improve the use of data in five critical areas: (1) Helping economic and workforce developers, businesses, and colleges to reduce the high costs resulting from uninformed education and workforce decisions; (2) Assisting college leaders in making program-related decisions that…

Postsecondary institutions are under increasing scrutiny to provide evidence of student learning. Despite efforts to increase the number and frequency of assessments of student learning, many colleges and universities need help to make good use of assessment results for the improvement of teaching and learning. To address this need, in February…

A few years ago, in "Student Success in College (SSiC)," the authors profiled twenty colleges and universities that were unusually effective in fostering student engagement and success, defined as better-than-predicted scores on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and better-than-predicted graduation rates. These schools are…

Recognizing that higher education, including community colleges, four-year colleges, and research universities, cannot help drive economic growth in their states unless students' academic success is linked to the needs of the marketplace, governors and state policymakers are beginning to move beyond their focus on getting more students to get…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

Geographic information systems (GIS) provide a computer-based system for organizing, tracking, and using practically any kind of information that has a geographic component. Partnerships between rural electric cooperatives and local governments in Minnesota and Missouri make GIS data available for various uses by electric cooperatives, county and…

This report summarizes the discussion and recommendations of a symposium which focused on issues addressing the collection, sharing, and use of information to improve transition services and supports to youth and young adults with disabilities. Participants included representatives from state agencies, advocates, family members, and Community…

Characteristics of the Minnesota Statewide Educational Assessment Program, initiated by the state department of education, are: stratified student samples based on five sizes and types of school districts; assessment of academic subject areas in periodic cycles; subject area objectives cooperatively planned with the curriculum unit in the…

This paper examines the qualities and limitations of information utilization in special education program planning and improvement; discusses the results of a federally funded transition follow-along and follow-up research and demonstration project in Minnesota; and describes methods for organizing, managing, and reporting follow-along and…