Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems: The Federal Role in Supporting SLDS Development

• Activity Number: 280
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Government Statistics
• Author(s): Andrew White*+ and Jack Buckley
• Companies: National Center for Education Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics
• Keywords: data-driven decision making ; statewide longitudinal data systems ; student education records

Abstract

Federal funds authorized by the Educational Technical Assistance Act and the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act were provided through grants to states to assist in the development and implementation of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) based on student education records. These systems are expected to increase States' efficient management, analysis, and use of education data to improve student learning. These systems are also expected to support research to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps. Although the initial SLDS support was for systems in grades K-12, the support has expanded to bridge across the pre-K, elementary/secondary, postsecondary, and workforce continuum. This effort is supported by a Federal State partnership in which the Federal role involves, providing funding, technical advise, and coordination in support of the individual state activities. This paper describes the federal role in this effort and discusses examples of the ways the resulting longitudinal data can be used.