As state policymakers strive to ensure that every student is taught by an effective teacher and is ready for college and 21st-century careers, they must also make drastic budget cuts. States cannot do more with less without collecting and using quality data to determine which programs and policies increase student achievement and the state's return on investment. The Data Quality Campaign's (DQC) sixth annual state analysis, "Data for Action 2010," reveals that states have made unprecedented progress collecting longitudinal information that enables them to follow individual students over time. However, states have not taken the necessary actions to create a culture of effective data use. To leverage current investments and support data use, states must act to ensure that they link appropriate data across educational systems (from early childhood through postsecondary and the workforce), that these data are accessible to stakeholders and that those stakeholders have the capacity to use data to improve student achievement.