DATA QUALITY CAMPAIGN Announces 3-Year Progress

States make impressive gains in building student-level longitudinal data systems; now must use the information to improve student achievement

Austin, TX — Nov. 15, 2008 — Six states report having all 10 elements of a comprehensive data system that can track student progress from preschool through college, and 48 states have at least half the elements, according to the third annual report (http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/files/publications-measuring_what_matters.pdf) released today by the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) during the Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) Annual Policy Forum. The Annual DQC Leadership Awards also were presented.

Since its launch in 2005, the DQC, a national partnership to improve the quality, accessibility and use of data in education, has highlighted the power of developing and using longitudinal data systems to improve student achievement. Longitudinal data — data gathered on the same student from year to year — make it possible to follow individual student academic growth, determine the value-added of specific programs, and identify consistently high-performing schools and systems.

Key findings from the 2008 survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia:

• In 2005, no state reported having all 10 essential elements of a robust state longitudinal data system; this year, six states do (AL, AR, DE, FL, LA and UT).
• 48 states now have five or more of the 10 elements.
• 42 states (compared to 14 in 2005) report they have the data systems necessary to calculate the National Governors Association longitudinal graduation rate. All states except one will report this rate by 2010–11.

For complete survey results, please visit http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/survey_results/.

“ The Data Quality Campaign has brought focus to the benefits of good data systems,” U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said. “Today, thanks in part to the DQC, 42 states have already done the hard work necessary to have systems in place to calculate a more accurate and reliable graduation rate, and almost every other state is on track to have systems developed by 2011. Information is a powerful motivator for change, and I’m pleased that these states have put together systems that will empower parents and policymakers throughout the country to work to reverse low graduation rates.”

States also are committed to continuing to build and expand these data systems: 47 states plan to have eight or more of the 10 elements in place within three years. But much work remains, particularly on certain elements:

• Only 21 states have a teacher identifier system with the ability to match teachers to students; another 13 states plan to have this element by 2012, but 17 states report no plans to implement it.
• Only 17 states collect student-level course completion and transcript information, and at least nine have no plans to do so.
• 29 states have the ability to collect college readiness test scores, but at least 12 states have no plans to implement this element.

States report that it is not a lack of technological know-how that is keeping them from doing this work. The lack of political will and resources to implement the elements and change the culture around data use are the greatest barriers.

“ We need to transform our view of data in education and realize that quality student-level data presents a realistic — though not always pretty — picture of achievement in our schools. Chief state school officers in partnership with other state policymakers must reinforce the use of data as an integral part of our efforts to improve performance across the system, especially increasing student achievement. Thanks to the comprehensive state data system we have built in Arkansas, the information the state provides can help shape our decisions to ensure every student leaves high school prepared for the challenges of our increasingly demanding economy,” said Arkansas Commissioner Ken James, incoming president of CCSSO.

Four Leaders Honored
States and districts already showing exceptional leadership received the 2008 DQC Annual Leadership Awards:

• Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell and Secretary of Education Gerald Zahorchak jointly received the State Policymaker of the Year for their efforts to build Pennsylvania’s P–20 data system while demonstrating the power of this information to principals, teachers and other stakeholders.
• Kathy Gosa of the Kansas State Department of Education was recognized as the State Data Director of the Year for her leadership in developing, promoting and implementing governance policies and structures that help ensure quality and confidentiality while maximizing the sharing of information.
• Superintendent Joe Kitchens of Western Heights Public Schools in Oklahoma is the District Data Leader of the Year for transforming his district into a continually improving organization that is informed by real-time, accurate data.

“ Over the past several years, many states have ramped up their efforts to build data systems to inform education accountability and improve student achievement,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, chairman of the Education Commission of the States.

“This focus on measurable results and student performance is an important part of closing the achievement gap and making sure students are meeting goals throughout their school careers. We’re hopeful that every state will continue this progress, even when political or other barriers seem tough to overcome. ”

The Next Step: Using Longitudinal Data for Continuous Improvement
While applauding the progress to date, DQC leaders called on states to help policymakers, educators and other stakeholders make much better use of these data to improve student achievement. For instance, 44 states have the capacity to track preschool children into kindergarten, and 28 can follow high school graduates into college, but it is not clear whether states are actually using this information to improve performance. If the data show, for instance, that certain groups or individual students are off track as early as 3rd grade, then schools can adjust their instruction to help these students catch up.

“ Principals and their teachers need professional development to build their capacity to use these new sources of data to improve student achievement and sustain progress made,” says Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

The DQC’s managing and endorsing partners have renewed their commitment to work together over the next three years to build political support among policymakers to:

• Grow and sustain longitudinal data systems that follow individual students throughout the P–20 education pipeline;
• Ensure broad, yet appropriate, access to these data; and
• Increase the capacity throughout the education system to understand and use these data to improve system performance and student achievement.

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The DQC is a national, collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the collection, availability and use of high-quality education data and to implement state longitudinal data systems to improve student achievement. The campaign provides tools and resources that assist state development of quality longitudinal data systems, while providing a national forum for reducing duplication of effort and promoting greater coordination and consensus among the organizations focusing on improving data quality, access and use.

The campaign is managed by the National Center for Educational Achievement (NCEA). The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the founding funder; additional support has been provided by the Casey Family Programs and the Lumina Foundation for Education.

In September 2008, NCEA conducted a survey about state data systems to determine the number of states that have built the infrastructure to tap into the power of longitudinal data. NCEA conducted similar surveys in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

For more information, visit www.DataQualityCampaign.org or e-mail Info@DataQualityCampaign.org.

Progress on the 10 Essential Elements of Longitudinal Data Systems
Longitudinal data — data gathered on the same student from year to year — make it possible to follow individual student academic growth, determine the value-added of specific programs, and identify consistently high-performing schools and systems. The DQC has identified the following 10 essential elements of a longitudinal data system and annually reports state progress in implementing each element:

1. A unique statewide student identifier that connects student data across key databases across years (48 states report having this element, up from 36 in 2005)
2. Student-level enrollment, demographic and program participation information (49, up from 38 in 2005)
3. The ability to match individual students’ test records from year to year to measure academic growth (48, up from 32 in 2005)
4. Information on untested students and the reasons they were not tested (41, up from 25 in 2005)
5. A teacher identification system with the ability to match teachers to students (21, up from 13 in 2005)
6. Student-level transcript information, including information on courses completed and grades earned (17, up from 7 in 2005)
7. Student-level college readiness test scores (29, up from 7 in 2005)
8. Student-level graduation and dropout data (50, up from 34 in 2005)
9. The ability to match student records between the P–12 and postsecondary systems (28, up from 12 in 2005)
10. A state audit system assessing data quality, validity and reliability (45, up from 19 in 2005)

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