Do States Use Data to Improve Student Learning?

Overall, states have made unprecedented progress in collecting longitudinal student data.

But they don't actually use it to improve student learning, according to Data for Action 2010, the sixth annual state analysis released by the Data Quality Campaign on Feb. 16.

“Data doesn’t serve anyone if it is sitting in file folders, in warehouses and in state agencies," said Aimee Guidera, executive director of the Data Quality Campaign, in a webinar.

And that's exactly where it's been.

The analysis also found that the majority of states don't link data across education systems or make it available to stakeholders. Because they don't make it available to stakeholders, they can't make decisions based on the data to help improve student outcomes. 

“Every single stakeholder needs to have access to rich data," Guidera said. "We now have the data in this country. There are no excuses.”

The Data Quality Campaign is a national, collaborative campaign that provides tools and resources to help state policymakers make high-quality education data available, which in turn helps improve student learning. Campaign funders include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Casey Family Programs, the Lumina Foundation for Education, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

5 priorities

Based on its analysis, the Data Quality Campaign recommends that states focus on these five priorities.
 

1. Fulfill the 50-state commitment to implement the Data Quality Campaign's 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems by September 2011.

These elements include the following:

• Statewide student identifier
• Student-level enrollment data
• Student-level test data
• Information on untested students
• Statewide teacher identifier with a teacher-student match
• Student-level course completion (transcript) data
• Student-level SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement Exam data
• Student-level graduation and dropout data
• Ability to match student-level P-12 and higher education data
• A state data audit system

Since the campaign started in 2005, 24 states have implemented the 10 elements, and the other states committed to implement all of them by September 2011. And they can do it. Last year, Idaho only had three elements, but in one year, the state put them all in place.

In the analysis, the campaign found that too many states lack some of the most essential elements. Seventeen states can't link teacher and student data; 15 states don't collect course completion information; and 11 states can't link K-12 and postsecondary data.
 

2. Link K-12 with early childhood, postsecondary and work force data to answer critical policy questions.

States are closing in on implementing the essential elements, and now they need to move into the 10 State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use, Guidera said.

The first action involves linking K-12 with early childhood, postsecondary and work force data. While most states can technically link this data, only nine link it regularly, including Maryland, Washington and Georgia.

For a long time, postsecondary institutions in Maryland have given the state feedback reports on how high school students are doing in higher education. But the state hasn't been using them to answer policy questions such as how many of their students are going to college.

"Data systems will never realize their potential until they get used in schools and classrooms,” said Paul Lingenfelter, president of State Higher Education Executive Officers.

3. Provide teachers, students and parents with access to longitudinal student-level data.

But they also have to protect student privacy. You can take an individual student record, remove the ID, create a unique identifier to tag them, and move them through with other students, Lingenfelter said.

That way, the student's information stays private to everyone except for the teachers, parents and students who need to see it. And stakeholders can spot learning trends by looking at how people like this student do as a group.

States shouldn't collect extraneous data, but should figure out exactly what needs to be collected, Guidera said. For example, less than 20 data elements in the Minnesota K-12 and higher education data systems are linked. The governor doesn't need to know how your child does in fractions, but does need to know how fifth-graders do in math.

Americans value privacy strongly and also make a strong commitment to ensure that every student in our nation is prepared for the world economy, Guidera said.

“This isn’t an either/or. We have to do both.”

States need clarification on how they can share data. Past administrations have distributed circulars saying, "Don't do this with the data, or you could lose federal funding." And that's created fear, even though no one's ever lost federal funding for violating this act, said David Wakelyn, program director of the education division of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) allows organizations to share data if it has a research and evaluation purpose. Now the administration needs to clarify what states can share. The southern states have taken the lead on linking data.

If privacy questions aren't answered satisfactorily, legislators won't move forward to support longitudinal student-level data, said Julie Bell, education program director of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“Legislators are intensely concerned about privacy issues, and I’m not sure that they still quite understand exactly what the case is and how we’re dealing with those issues.”
 

4. Share data about teacher impact on student achievement with educator preparation institutions.

Eighteen states automatically share some information with teacher preparation programs. But they face these barriers to sharing data:

• Lack of resources
• No data sharing agreements
• Unclear privacy laws
• Lack of SEA/TEP collaboration
• Incompatible systems
• Lack of common IDs
   

5. Enact statewide pre-service policies — including certification, licensure and program approval — to build educator capacity to use data.

Sixteen states have enacted policies that require teacher preparation programs to include data literacy in their approval criteria. And 14 states require educators to demonstrate data literacy in order to be certified.

The data trend

Most states have the technical capability to find out answers to questions like, "How many middle school teachers don't have secondary certification?" Now they need to put that data into action.

Reporting is getting better, but quality issues around collecting the data still exist at the local level, said Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. While states face technological, financial and personnel training issues, Wilhoit is optimistic that data systems will help improve student outcomes.

“This is such a dynamic movement in the country, and we have gone so far that there’s no turning back," Wilhoit said, "and we’ll be successful.”

Resources:

• Data Quality Campaign state analysis 2010