Since 2005, the Data Quality Campaign has been encouraging states to beef up (or in some cases, create from scratch) their longitudinal data systems to conform with a list of ten “Essential Elements.” These include, for example, a statewide student identifier that tracks kids, a statewide teacher identifier that tracks teachers, and student-level enrollment and test data. In this latest update on that endeavor, we discover that twelve states have managed to master all ten, while another thirty-five have put in place at least eight. This is promising in light of the campaign’s original goal (and the states’ respective promises) to put these in place by 2011. But now that states have these data systems, they need to actually use them, and most aren’t, according to DQC’s complementary ten recommended “State Actions.” For example, only ten states are actually sharing individual student data with their teachers, and several states seem to be doing virtually nothing with the great data they’ve collected. You know what they say: Use it or lose it. Read an overview of the findings here and find state-by-state data and other materials here.
Quality Data Campaign
January 2010