One element of quality teaching for improving student outcomes is effective data use. To date, however, policies have not gone far enough to promote the skills teachers need to be data literate. This brief for state policymakers offers a proposed definition of data literacy along with recommendations for state and federal policymakers. [The contents of this paper were developed collaboratively over one year with a group of national and state-level experts. The members of the working group are listed on page 9 of this document.]