New Report: More States Using Data to Help Students Succeed and Keep Parents in the Loop

News Release from Data Quality Campaign 

WASHINGTON—November 20, 2014—A new report finds the number of states sharing teacher performance information with educator preparation programs has more than tripled (from 6 to 22 since 2011), providing crucial data to inform teacher training improvements.

The Data Quality Campaign’s (DQC) 10th annual state analysis—Data for Action 2014: Paving the Path to Success—also found 41 states now provide teachers and parents access to high school feedback reports that show how well a class of high school graduates do in college. Only 12 states produced such reports in 2009.

“More now than ever, states are using data to help answer critical questions, inform continuous improvement, and ultimately support students on their paths to success,” said Aimee Rogstad Guidera, Executive Director of the Data Quality Campaign. “It’s amazing how far we have come, and the investments states have made are beginning to make a difference in the classroom.”

Data for Action 2014 takes the pulse of the nation’s education data use. States collectively made strides on all of DQC’s benchmarks, called the 10 State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use. Among the highlights:

• Kentucky is the newest state to achieve all 10 State Actions, joining Arkansas and Delaware. Kentucky’s focus on providing teachers, families, and the public with useful data has propelled the state from having 2 Actions in 2011 to all 10 in 2014.
• States can look to Connecticut, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin as exemplars for providing high-quality websites that meet parents’ information needs.
• Alaska, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Utah, and Washington are particularly ahead of the curve when it comes to having a high-quality cross-agency data governance structure in place.
• This year in particular, states are realizing data’s value in teacher education. In 2009 no states reported having policies and practices to build teacher data literacy skills, which train teachers to use data to improve teaching and learning. Fast-forward to today, 18 states are doing just that. And in 13 states, the demonstration of these skills is now part of educator licensing and program approval policies.

Education data use has come a long way and needs to go further.

While 43 states link K–12 and higher education data to better understand student performance in college, only 19 states link K–12 and workforce data to better understand students’ performance in the labor market.

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From Data for Action 2014: “Hawaii’s Data Governance Committee is powered by a clear vision and mission and empowered with the authority to carry out numerous key activities. The state’s cross-agency data governance work is distinct from the work of the state education agency’s internal data governance structure. In addition, the committee has operational and decision making responsibilities and carries out processes including budgeting the state’s data work and communicating with the public about the value of data and the state’s reports.”

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The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, national advocacy organization committed to realizing an education system in which all stakeholders—from parents to policymakers—are empowered with high quality data from early childhood, K–12, postsecondary, and workforce systems. To achieve this vision, DQC supports state policymakers and other key leaders to promote effective data use to ensure students graduate from high school prepared for success in college and the workplace.  For more information, visit www.dataqualitycampaign.org.