ATLANTA — Eight of the 16 Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states are cited by the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) as among the nation’s leaders in building student-data systems that will more accurately monitor high school graduation rates and may help states capture additional federal funds. Six other SREB states also were ranked near the top by the DQC in developing strong student-data systems.
The eight SREB states identified among only 11 nationwide to have implemented all 10 of the DQC’s key elements of a high-quality student data system are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Six additional SREB states have eight or nine of the elements: Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.
"Monitoring students’ progress is critical for SREB states as they work toward meeting the region’s education goals," said Joan Lord, SREB’s vice president for education policies. "Better data systems also may help states qualify for federal funding to improve high school graduation rates, students’ college and career readiness, teacher quality and more."
All 50 states are on track to have longitudinal student-data systems in place by 2011.
President Obama and other national leaders have called for improved student-data systems to help states qualify for federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Some states also are moving swiftly to address the student-data system requirements that will make states eligible to receive additional funds through the federal Race to the Top program launched recently by the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, grants from the federal Institute of Education Sciences are helping states make progress, according to the nonprofit DQC, based in Austin, Texas.
SREB is an endorsing partner of the DQC and plays an important role in compiling and analyzing education data across the region.
The DQC report urges states to make better use of the data they collect. Specifically, the DQC recommends that states expand the availability of state data systems to link parts of the pre-K-20 education pipeline, ensure that data can be accessed and used by stakeholders such as parents and educators, and build the capacity of all stakeholders to use data in policy and planning decisions. The DQC plans to release state reports on progress in data improvement in January.
For more information on your state’s progress and how states can better use student data to improve education, contact SREB Communications. Visit www.dataqualitycampaign.org for additional details and full reports on each state’s work.
The DQC’s 10 essential elements of longitudinal data systems are:
- A unique student identifier that connects student data across key databases and across years. (Fifty states now have this element according to the DQC, up from 36 in 2005.)
- Student-level enrollment, demographic and program participation information.
- The ability to match individual students’ test records from year to year to measure academic growth.
- Information on untested students and the reasons they were not tested.
- A teacher identifier system with the ability to match teachers to students.
- Student-level transcript data, including information on courses completed and grades earned.
- Student-level college-readiness test scores.
- Student-level graduation and dropout data.
- The ability to match student records between P-12 and postsecondary systems.
- A state data audit system assessing quality, validity and reliability.
The Southern Regional Education Board, or SREB, based in Atlanta, was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. More information is available online at www.sreb.org.
