The American Community Survey (ACS) captures core concepts of disability that may be useful for understanding the population of children for whom special education services may be necessary. While this measure of disability covers elements of physical and mental impairment, the ACS does not identify children who have been evaluated for or qualify…

Effective evidence-based action requires getting the right data into the right hands at the right time to help make decisions. The Data Quality Campaign (2011) has provided suggestions to state education agencies for effectively using data within state longitudinal data systems. One suggestion is to identify "the variety of ways available…