Five years ago, California's education data lagged far behind the systems in most other states. However, state leaders and education advocates undertook a purposeful engagement and design process to build a data system that represents the state's values and meets different stakeholders' needs. This case study on California's P-20W Cradle-to-Career…

State legislators have the opportunity to create and support legislation that positions data as a tool to help decisionmakers at all levels take action to support student success. This checklist can serve as a guide to crafting legislation that addresses education data. It applies specifically to education data legislation which includes bills…

Data governance is a core obligation for leaders and staff across any agency that collects, stores or uses individuals' data. It ensures that individuals' personal information is protected, and can support the continuous improvement of data quality and use, particularly when it includes well-defined processes, structure and responsibilities.…

The Education Insights Center produced a series of reports culminating in recommendations for the structure and governance of a preschool through higher education and into the workforce (known as a P20W data system). This brief follows up on that series, with a focus on data quality; the brief was informed by the author's experience using…

The "Forum Guide to Data Governance" highlights how data governance programs benefit education agencies and provide timely and useful best practices, examples, and resources for agencies implementing or updating their data governance programs. This resource is intended to address the needs of federal, state, and local agencies related…

Higher education is a key driver of economic mobility and future growth in California. Yet there is much unknown about how students advance from K-12 schools to postsecondary education and into the workforce--and where they falter. This lack of knowledge stems from the fragmented nature of California's education data and inhibits informed decision…

As additional states embark on the process of implementing four-year degrees at community colleges, they can learn from others' experience for help navigating the legislative, regulatory, and program approval processes. This brief uses examples from states currently offering bachelor's degrees at their community colleges to provide guidance for…

California's education data, at least as they currently are collected, managed, and made available, are not sufficient for understanding and addressing the needs of California's students. That's the conclusion of the first three reports in the series "California Education Policy, Student Data, and the Quest to Improve Student Progress,"…

Mergers and acquisitions are a prevalent force in higher education as more colleges and universities are joining forces to expand resources, enhance missions, or prevent closures. This study examines the merger of Alliant University (formerly California School of Professional Psychology) with United States International University to create what…

This is a research-based action and strategy planning study incorporating a holistic systems approach to program continuance at a local college. In the spring semester of 2010, the college administration decided to discontinue three programs at the college due to declining enrollment. One of these programs was the Real Estate Department which had…

The Early Learning Challenge (ELC) program awarded more than $1 billion in four-year grants to 20 States to implement comprehensive and cohesive high-quality early learning systems that support young children with high needs and their families. A key lever in making these improvements was the enhancement of States' Quality Rating and Improvement…

This report commemorates the fifth anniversary of the Getting Down to Facts project, which sought to provide a thorough and reliable analysis of the critical challenges facing California's education system as the necessary basis for an informed discussion of policy changes aimed at improving the performance of California schools and students. The…

The J-50 Report, one of the most complicated entitlement reports that any state agency requires, provides information for funding and monitoring special education services and operations throughout California and for making special education funding allocations equitable. This manual was developed to assist local educational agency (LEA) and…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

To encourage dialog between institutional research workers in the junior colleges of California, a conference was called to discuss the development and use of a common data bank. The eight major addresses included (1) a review of the past year's activities of the California Junior College Association's Committee on Research and Development, (2) a…