Since 2010, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) Strong Foundations survey has reported on the evolution and value of postsecondary student unit record systems (PSURSs) by illuminating the condition of state postsecondary data in the U.S. In the "Strong Foundations 2023" survey, which was administered from…

The need for a comprehensive education data governance -- the regulation of who collects what data, how it is used and why -- continues to grow. Technologically, data can be collected by third parties, rendering schools unable to control their use. Legal frameworks partially achieve data governance as businesses continue to exploit existing…

Each year, state legislators craft new policies that drive data use across their states, and as part of a comprehensive review of state education data legislation, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) keeps track. In 2022, state legislators introduced 131 bills in 35 states--42 of which became law in 17 states-- that would govern the use of data along…

Advances in educational technology have led to unprecedented accumulation of student information, but there is limited research to inform school practices in protecting student data. At a minimum, school districts must remain in compliance with increasingly complex state and federal laws on student privacy. Moreover, increased cyberattacks on K-12…

A cybersecurity incident is an event that actually or potentially jeopardizes a system or the information it holds. When a student's personal information is disclosed, it can lead to physical, emotional, and financial harm. Organizations are vulnerable to data security risks, including over 17,000 public school districts and approximately 98,000…

State databases offer researchers the opportunity to conduct research using data collected by states. These databases contain financial, demographic, and accountability data. Accessing and acquiring data from these repositories, though, can offer challenges to scholars interested in conducting research. This brief describes the type of data…

Community schools have a long history of helping students succeed in school by addressing the problems they face outside of school. But without specific data on students and the full range of their needs, community schools cannot be as effective as they would like to be. Driven by the desire to make more data-informed decisions, the Children's Aid…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is urged to submit a report to the General Assembly by December 31, 2021, with information on the reviewed areas and recommendations on how to streamline the school data reporting and collecting systems of the State of Illinois. ISBE supports more than 200 software applications that were created in…

Analysis of student-level data to inform policy and promote student success is a core function of executive higher education agencies. Postsecondary data systems have expanded their collection of data elements for use by policymakers, institutional staff, and the general public. State coordinating and governing boards use these data systems for…

With over 37 million residents, California is the most populous state in the country. California's primary and secondary schools enroll over 6.2 million students,1 and there are 3.4 million undergraduates attending 683 postsecondary institutions in California. Yet, because of the lack of a strong data infrastructure, we are unable to answer basic…

The 2020 election brought about legislative change across the country. New and veteran policymakers need information about the schools in their state. What programs are the most cost effective and work best for students? How can states attract and retain great teachers? What information do parents need to ensure that their kids are on track to…

British Columbia (BC) has experienced a significant teacher shortage for years. While every region of the province is impacted, rural and remote communities have experienced a worsening shortage especially during the pandemic. Additionally, there is a critical shortage of specialist teachers across the province. This Education Brief outlines five…

Big Data can radically transform education by enabling personalized learning, deep student modeling, and true longitudinal studies that compare changes across classrooms, regions, and years. With these promises, however, come risks to individual privacy and educational validity, along with deep policy and ethical issues. Education is largely a…

Using document analysis, this paper examines the historical emergence of the quantified child, revealing how the collection and use of data has become normalized through legitimizing discourses. First, following in the traditions of Foucault's genealogy and studies examining the sociology of numbers, this paper traces the evolution of data…

In the first of this four-part series of policy briefs on student data in California, we noted a disconnect in the views of state policy staff and local educators on the need for a statewide longitudinal student data system (see "About This Series"). The local educators we interviewed expressed a readiness to participate in a state data…