Advances in state education data systems are helping schools understand and meet the needs of learners from early education through college and the workforce. Each state has adhered to key principles for protecting student data privacy. In the report "Lessons in Data Privacy for Education Leaders. Policy Guide," (ED625423) leading…

Data systems are becoming powerful tools to address students' diverse and changing needs, but without comprehensive data privacy policies, the risks of unintentional or malicious disclosures of students' private information is increasing. Given the mounting challenges to protect data privacy, Education Commission of the States assembled data…

Data governance is a core obligation for leaders and staff across any agency that collects, stores or uses individuals' data. It ensures that individuals' personal information is protected, and can support the continuous improvement of data quality and use, particularly when it includes well-defined processes, structure and responsibilities.…

The "Forum Guide to Data Governance" highlights how data governance programs benefit education agencies and provide timely and useful best practices, examples, and resources for agencies implementing or updating their data governance programs. This resource is intended to address the needs of federal, state, and local agencies related…

The most effective state efforts to improve student outcomes do not exist in a silo; they cut across multiple policy priorities to make data work for students. And while their crosscutting data initiatives can still be strengthened, some states are supporting schools with efforts that reach across the Data Quality Campaign's (DQC) Four Policy…

Modern computing technology makes it possible for governments at all levels to use the data they already collect to improve service coordination and delivery, and to conduct research and evaluation to inform policymaking. California is well behind other states in taking advantage of this opportunity, in education and in other fields. The state has…

All students deserve a great education, one that affords every opportunity for them to grow into knowledgeable and successful adults. To date, efforts to improve education have operated on a model of mass production, assuming--wrongly--that what works for some students must work for all. To change that model, students and their parents, teachers,…

Alignment between K-12 education and the workforce is critical because jobs are changing. Students must be prepared not only for the jobs of today but also for the jobs of the future. Securely linking data between state K-12 and workforce data systems can create a bridge between these agencies as they develop shared career readiness goals for…

When researchers are focused on improving teaching-and-learning domains that match the school district's strategic plan, not only focusing on their own research agenda, they yield powerful results that can be useful for guiding processes of improving student learning.

Teachers have access to information about the students in their classrooms each year, but schools and districts often cannot provide teachers with longitudinal data (or data linked over time). Given resource constraints in schools and districts, states are best positioned to ensure that teachers have secure access to their students' longitudinal…

The field of learning analytics is being discussed in many circles as an emerging concept in education. In many districts and states, the core philosophy behind learning analytics is not entirely new; for more than a decade, discussions of data-driven decision making and the use of data to drive instruction have been common. Still, the U.S.…

Every state can create secure, robust linkages between early childhood and K-12 data systems, and effectively use the information from these linkages to implement initiatives to support programs and children, answer key policy questions, and be transparent about how the state's early childhood investments prepare students for success in school and…

Providing a safe classroom and laboratory environment should be the first priority of any career-technical and technology/engineering education instructor. Doing so not only increases the opportunity for student learning, but it also keeps instructors "out of hot water" with respect to legal issues of liability. In today's litigious…

The emergence of longitudinal data systems over the past decade has provided exciting opportunities to better understand students' educational trajectories over time and institutions. The stark reality for today's high school students is that some form of postsecondary education is a necessary ticket of entry to a secure economic future. This…

Institutions--even entire sectors of the education system--too often operate independently of each other, maintaining discrete student-record systems. This makes it difficult to trace a student's progress through higher education and into the workforce--and that disconnection hampers efforts to improve the system. Only by systematically collecting…