20 States Receive State Longitudinal Data Systems Grants

On Monday, the Department of Education announced that 20 states had been awarded State Longitudinal Data Systems grants for the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant cycle. The ARRA provided $250 million for the State Longitudinal Data Systems program which provides three-year competitive grants to states to help design and implement Pre-K–16 education data systems. The 20 new grants range from $5.1 million for Ohio to $19.7 million for New York. These grants are vital to the continued advancement of state education data systems, particularly as states and schools begin to explore ways to use these systems to improve instruction in the classroom.

The existing data systems in each of these 20 states vary widely in their complexity and capacity. Some states, like Texas and Utah, have already implemented large educational data systems covering many years and services including data on teachers, finances, and student details like disciplinary information. As a result, each state requested funds to achieve different goals in the grant application. Other states, like Minnesota and California, are either just beginning or are in the progress of implementing these complex data systems. For a full matrix of each state’s data capabilities and progress, see here.

The states’ applications reflect the varied capabilities of their existing data systems. For example, New York, which received the largest grant, received funds to help the state build on and improve its existing Pre-K through 12 data system. These activities will include:

• Creating a student-to-teacher matching system;
• Beginning expansion to a Pre-K through 20 system including links with state higher education data and data from other state agencies like workforce, health and social services;
• Adding an Instructional Support system that helps teachers use data to improve instruction;
• Building a data base for research and policy analysis;
• Implement a student progress tracking system; and
• Designing a quality control plan.

Texas, which received the second largest grant, received funds to expand on its existing Pre-K through 20 data system and improve the transparency and accessibility of data. These activities will include:

• Adding college readiness test outcomes to the data base;
• Including Pre-K, kindergarten, and workforce data;
• Creating and implementing new standards and protocols for data collection;
• Automating the data collection process; and
• Improving the culture of data use for instructional improvement in the state.

Ohio, with the smallest grant award this year, received funds to fill current gaps in its existing data system including linking more years of data and making the data more useable for research and policy analysis. These activities will include:

• Develop a plan to integrate early education data into the system;
• Implement a system that will share transcript data between K-12 and higher education;
• Facilitate the analysis of available data to answer policy and research questions;
• Develop a reporting and analysis tool for users of the data system.

The other 17 states will receive funds for similar activities all targeted toward strengthening their existing data systems, adding new variables or years of data, expanding the accessibility of the data, and ensuring that the data are available to help teachers improve their instruction in real time.

Through this large infusion of federal funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, these 20 states will be able to make large advancements in their education data capabilities. Soon, some particularly advanced states will be able to track students from early education through entrance into the workforce including their participation in social services and other government-run programs.

These data systems have the power to provide real concrete information on what is and is not working in our schools for these students. But many states are far from that point and will require continued support to get there. The State Longitudinal Data Systems grant program, coupled with state funds, will likely continue to be vital to this process.