Leveraging Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems for EDFacts Reporting Joel McFarland, U.S. Department of Education Ross Lemke, AEM Corporation Bob Beecham, Quality Information Partners U.S. Department of Education 25th Annual STATS-DC Conference July 11, 2012 Washington DC

2 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Contents: 1.Purpose 2.The Statewide (Education) Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) 3.EDFacts Reporting 4.Interviews with Selected States 5.Conclusions and Recommendations

3 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Purpose To examine how selected states are leveraging their statewide education longitudinal data systems for EDFacts reporting

4 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting The State (education) LDS: Collects and maintains detailed, high quality, student- and staff-level data; Links these data across entities and over time, providing a complete academic and performance history for each student; and Makes these data accessible through reporting and analysis tools.

5 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Basic Elements of a SLDS: A student-unique identifier system Student data Annual summative assessment data linked across years A teacher-unique identifier system and the ability to link teacher and student Teacher and staff data A Data Warehouse Reporting and analysis tools Interoperability Portability Privacy protection

6 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting EDFacts Reporting: Beginning with SY EDFacts is required EDFacts coordinates data from multiple data sources Collects information on students, schools, staff, services and education outcomes Data collections previously coordinated by program offices now leverage EDFacts reporting, including: Common Core of Data Consolidated State Performance Report (CSPR) Civil Rights Data Collections.

7 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Interviews with Selected States: Assembled advisory committee Called for volunteers Formulated questions Conducted interviews in early May 2012 Compiled results

8 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Purpose of the State Education LDS: 1. Recalling when your statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) was originally conceived, what were the primary reasons your state used to justify the system? 2. Was reporting to the federal government a primary reason your state used to justify the system?

9 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Purpose of the State Education LDS: Originally, primary purpose was not for federal reporting Over time, federal reporting has become a justification for expanding the SLDS In the future EDFacts should be “just another report”

10 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Availability of EDFacts Data: 3. Does your SLDS hold the necessary data for reporting an EDFacts data group?

11 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Availability of EDFacts Data: Yes, but not all of our data are in the data warehouse (authoritative data source) Not all states have a goal of 100% of their data in the warehouse

12 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Expanding the use of the SLDS: 4. What process would need to be set up by IT and/or business leaders within the SEA to expand LDS use? 5. Using the recent changes for reporting assessment data as an example, can you estimate the resources that will be required to incorporate these changes into your SLDS? 6. What efficiencies could be gained by doing this?

13 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Expanding the use of the SLDS: Most states want to move more EDFacts data into the SLDS The new assessment changes are an improvement and easily incorporated Consolidation should lead to efficiencies over the long run, but not for every state

14 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Influencing Future Development: 7. How can you effectively guide or influence the development of your state’s LDS to enable greater amounts of reporting?

15 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Influencing Future Development: Provide user-friendly data access including packaged reports for SEA staff Push data back to schools and teachers to improve instruction in a user-friendly manner Provide more resources including money, time and staff Translate EDFacts specifications into something the programs can understand and own Pull more data into the warehouse Leverage previous reports and proactively plan reports Leverage (adapt) systems from other states

16 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Additional Support: 8. What additional supports or resources would you need to do more with your SLDS? 9. Would additional use of the SLDS truly be more efficient?

17 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Additional Support: Funding and staff Political will More/better trained LEA staff Support from the U.S. Department of Education What is efficient is not always doable

18 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting The Hurdles: 10. What hurdles stand in the way of retiring existing surveys/collections and leveraging the SLDS?

19 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting The Hurdles: Resources are a problem (but what’s new about that?) Funds are spread thin and little program money is used for data systems Government salaries are not competitive Changing federal requirements

20 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Program Involvement: 11. Are program leaders within the SEA engaged in governance and development of the SLDS? Most engaged? Least engaged?

21 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Program Involvement: All states believed that program involvement (an effective governance structure) is needed Some states believe that a SLDS is not a technology project yet in other states it is still viewed as such No discernible correlation between a strong governance structure and leveraging the SLDS

22 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Directions of EDFacts Reporting: 12. On a scale of 1-10 (1 not at all and 10 fully), how much are you using your SLDS for EDFacts reporting? 13. Using the same scale, what would be the ideal usage of your SLDS for EDFacts reporting?

23 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Directions of EDFacts Reporting: State #: Current SLDS Use: Ideal SLDS Use: , there are few EDFacts requirements that may never make it into the warehouse , EDFacts reporting should not be such a big deal. 3 1, we pull directly from about six different data bases. 8-9, LEA sub grant (Homeless) status would not come from the data warehouse, FIPS state code would probably not go into the data warehouse , starting next year unless EDEN specs change. 6 1, we have not yet focusedon this. 8-9, there are few GEPA reporting requirements that are not there, few other odd things here and there; suchas SIG (School Improvement Grants), teacher attendance, class time reporting and a few others in December , but we will be in the 9’s by June, , but never a ten. Average

24 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Recommendations: 1.Support states in the development of materials that will make EDFacts specification easier to understand for program staff. 2.Support states in the development of materials that will help local school districts better understand why high quality data are essential for federal reporting. 3.Help states develop guidance regarding CEDS (Common Education Data Standards), especially for Pre-Kindergarten, Labor, and Post-Secondary Institutions. 4.Create a future vision for EDFacts that will enable states to leverage their LDS for annual reporting but also be flexible enough to respond to changing requirements. 5.Provide EDFacts and SLDS owners across states a common communication platform to share solutions, promising practices and challenges. 6.Continue to support the SLDS Grant program.

25 SLDS, Warehouses and Reporting Suggestion or Comments: Leveraging Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems for EDFacts Reporting Bob Beecham