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…

For over 5 years, The Education Trust-West's #Data4ThePeople campaign has been a statewide effort to ensure California builds a data system that is designed with achieving equity and the needs of students, parents, and families at the center. Now with school and college closures caused by COVID-19 posing a real challenge to data accessibility and…

The PPIC Statewide Survey was inaugurated in 1998 to provide a way for Californians to express their views on important public policy issues. The survey provides timely, relevant, nonpartisan information on Californians' political, social, and economic opinions. It seeks to inform and improve state policymaking, raise awareness, and encourage…

With Governor Newsom's signature on the state budget in June 2019, California is finally on the path to joining the majority of other states in the country who have robust data systems. Having this administration provide funding to begin to build and maintain a statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) is an important win. Advocates have been…

California needs better data on the state's education systems to uncover and remedy systemic, long-standing racial and socioeconomic inequities. To create more just institutions, students, families, policymakers, educators, and advocates need access to quality, disaggregated data that allows them to answer questions about how well the state's…

School closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically changed the conditions in which students learn and experience schooling. Disparities in students' access to learning and in their academic outcomes are likely to exacerbate longstanding challenges and inequities. Now more than ever, educators need information that will help…

Public interest in social-emotional learning is growing -- and the opportunities under the Every Student Succeeds Act have led many states and districts to consider the role of these skills in schools. As state and local leaders consider and commit to social-emotional learning programming in schools, they also have a responsibility to be…

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…

With roots in student-centered pedagogies that go back at least to the 1900s, personalized learning meets students' learning goals, needs, context, and pace while incorporating their interests and preferences. Personalized learning in today's classroom depends upon and creates an abundance of rich student data, which simultaneously fosters new…

This study explores the ways in which local students experience housing instability--and how cross-sector strategies can better identify and serve these students. The report accompanying this brief considers a rich set of school administrative data, collected over the course of three school years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic: 2016-17 through…

In recent years, the increasing cost of higher education has introduced a new level of scrutiny toward colleges and universities, including the concern of prospective students and their families about the return on investment (ROI) of a college education. California's Pepperdine University wants its students to be transformed, inside and out, to…

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…

In addition to excelling in subjects such as science, math, arts, and social studies, students must also develop skills like resiliency, adaptability, and collaboration in order to truly succeed in the world. But how do schools effectively measure those skills when they so often rely on standardized assessments? This article provides a thorough…

The Forum Guide to Reporting Civil Rights Data presents a variety of effective methods through which local education agencies (LEAs) report civil rights data to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. In addition, the guide provides examples of how state education agencies can voluntarily help their LEAs with Civil Rights Data…