ARRA SLDS Grants Off to a Slow Start

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) included $250 million for Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) grants, a competitive federal grant program that provides three-year grants to states to help build and improve their data systems. These data systems are used for school and district accountability purposes, as well as to better understand how state and local inputs affect individual student achievement. At the end of May 2010, the U.S. Department of Education distributed the SLDS funds to 20 states through in grants ranging from $5.1 million for Ohio to $19.7 million for New York. In the four months since then, however, it does not appear that many of the recipient states have done much to spend this money and implement their SLDS grant proposals.

According to Department of Education data on ARRA funds outlaid under the SLDS grant program, states have only spent $1.5 million, or 0.6 percent, of the $250 million that they have been awarded. Arkansas accounts for most of the SLDS funds that have been outlaid. As of September 24, 2010, Arkansas had drawn down $1.4 million of its total $9.8 million grant, 14.6 percent. Kansas had drawn down the next highest amount of its grant – approximately $25,000 of its $9.0 million grant, or 0.3 percent. Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Oregon have each spent approximately 0.1 percent of their grants, while the remaining 14 states have spent less than 0.1 percent (and in many cases 0.0 percent) of their SLDS funds.

What has been the hold up for these states in getting their SLDS grants under way?

It is likely that many states were waiting to find out whether they also received Race to the Top grants before they began to implement their SLDS grants. The Race to the Top grant application required states to plan significant changes to their existing data systems including building capacity to link teachers to students or better integrate data into everyday instruction. These plans would have to be integrated into their SLDS plans before work on either could begin, which could take significant planning. In fact, a recent Ed Week article notes that some states wrote their Race to the Top applications without consulting their SLDS directors or considering how their existing data systems would fit into their proposals.

For states that did win Race to the Top grants, which were awarded in late August, they may be taking time to better integrate the two plans before they begin work. States that did not win Race to the Top, but were counting on the funds to implement their SLDS goals like Colorado, may be taking time to reassess their plans and use their SLDS funds more effectively.

It’s also possible that some states are taking time to staff up before they begin major work on their SLDS grants. Though most states already have permanent staff that work on their data systems, SLDS proposals may require new staff with particular expertise or retraining for existing staff on new software or hardware.

Hopefully, the 20 states that won SLDS grants under the ARRA will begin to ramp up activity and start spending down their grants soon. These data systems have the power to provide real concrete information on what is and is not working in our schools for these students. The improvements outlined in many of these grants represent important advancements to state education data systems, particularly as states and schools begin to explore ways to use these systems to improve instruction in the classroom.

To find out more about how this recent round of SLDS grants will affect early education data, read the Early Education Initiative’s new paper Many Missing Pieces.