1. Leveraging the Power of Geographic Information System
25th Annual STATS-DC 2012 Data Conference
July 12, 2012
Leveraging the Power of
Geographic Information System
to Display Information From the Tennessee Longitudinal Data System
David L. Wright
Chief Policy Officer, Policy, Planning & Research
Tennessee Higher Education Commission
Indrani D. Ojha
Associate Director, Student Information System

2. Geographical Information System (GIS):
GIS integrates hardware, software, and data for analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.
In education, GIS enables administrators, policymakers and researchers to realize efficiencies in campus operations by analyzing state, county and district level data.
In this presentation, we focus on Tennessee public high school graduates and their participation in higher education.

3. Tennessee Education Policy Context
K-12 reforms:
American Diploma Project
Performance standards to match National Assessment of Educational Progress
Focused on college and career readiness
Special Legislative Session of 2010
First to the Top Act
Teacher and school leader evaluation, Pre-service teacher training
Establishment of an achievement school district to turn around failing schools
Adoption and implementation of the Common Core State Standards
Expansion of current STEM teacher initiatives and establishment of a state STEM network

4. Tennessee Education Policy Context (cont.)
Complete College Tennessee Act: focuses on degree completion by improving every phase of educational pipeline performance
Student preparation at the HS level
College participation
Remediation and articulation
Enhancement in degree productivity
Degree attainment linked to economic strength
Outcome Based Funding Formula
Funding based on outcome and not enrollment

5. State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS):
Plan to have 360° view of the child
Data Contributors:
TN Higher Education Commission
Department of Labor & Workforce Development
Department of Education
Assigns a Master Person Identifier Index (Unique ID) to uniquely identify individuals
Provides the ability to mask sensitive data to support personal information confidentiality while maintaining unique person identification
Data elements will include student Demographics, Enrollment, End of Term, Graduation, Lottery Scholarships

6. Where are we in SLDS development?
Scope of Data (Phase 1):
Unemployment Insurance Wage
Facilities & Organization
Student Demographics, Enrollment, End of Term, Graduation, Lottery Scholarships
Web Portal (Phase 1): Look & Feel

7. New tool:
College participation rates is a common feature of the TNDOE and THEC strategic plans that implement legislative initiatives.
A web-based dynamic GIS tool to display data on maps, charts and tables.
The tool is developed using a Three-Tier architecture which involves a database server, a GIS server & a web server, and a thin client browser.
SQL Server 2008
GIS Server 9.3 (10)
ASP.NET 2.0
Visual Studio 2008
ArcGIS Desktop 10.0

8. Architecture

9. Data:
Data sources:
The Tennessee Higher Education Commission Student Information System (SIS): data from
University of Tennessee (UT) system
Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR)
Tennessee Independent College and University Association (TICUA)
The Tennessee Department of Education (TNDOE)
Public high school graduate data files
The National Student Clearinghouse (NSC)
Data for Tennessee students attending college nationwide
FAFSA data:
Lottery scholarship recipients

10. Definitions:
The College-Going Rate (CGR) measures the percentage of recent public high school graduates attending postsecondary institutions anywhere in the nation in the fall semester immediately following high school graduation, including the preceding summer semester.
The Enrollment Share measures the College Going Rate of Tennessee public High School graduates broken down by In-State or Out-of-State institution, institutional control (e.g., ‘Public’ or ‘Private’) and sector (e.g., ‘Four Year’ or ‘Two Year’). The statistics reflect the fall semester immediately following high school graduation, including the preceding summer semester.
High School Profile presents the graduation rate for each Tennessee public high school and the participation of its graduates in higher education anywhere in US. High School profiles also provide district and state averages for comparison purposes.

11. Calculation:
The college-going rate for Tennessee public high school graduate is calculated as:
Numerator:
# of previous year’s high school graduates with a regular diploma entering Post Secondary Institutions anywhere in the nation (full-time or part-time) in the immediate fall semester following high school graduation (includes 4-year colleges, community colleges, TTCs)
Denominator:
# of previous year’s high school graduates (numerator + college-going students not reported by NSCH + students who go straight to jobs/military)

12. GIS Web Mapping

13. Comments/Questions
Contacts