Washington Awarded $17.3 Million for Education Data System

For Immediate Release: May 21, 2010

OLYMPIA � Washington state was awarded $17.3 million for the design and implementation of a statewide data system, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced this morning.
The money is being funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Known as a statewide longitudinal data systems grant, the money will support the development of an integrated data system from early childhood education to adult employment.

�We know that transitions in school � from preschool to kindergarten, and from high school to college � present challenges to students,� Gov. Chris Gregoire said. �Having a data system to look at the progress of a student from pre-kindergarten through college is something that will help us better understand their needs. This grant will be an important part of our efforts to implement education reform and improve the quality of education for our children.�

While a number of data systems currently exist, the three-year grant will combine the K-12 data system, managed by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, with pre-kindergarten data, post-secondary data and workforce data to create a comprehensive, unified and efficient P-20 data system.

�Early learning, K-12 and higher education have needed a system like this for many years now,� said Randy Dorn, state superintendent. �It will bring us the data we need to better assist all students through the entire educational system.�

The grant will build on work already started by SPI and the Education Research and Data Center (ERDC) to link data across education sectors, and to learn more about the factors that determine student success.

Proposed projects will focus on five areas:

1) Data governance. When, how, and what data can be shared, while protecting individuals� privacy.
2) Research and reporting. Reports will be written and datasets created that will inform both policy at the state level and practice at the school level.
3) Data warehouse environment. A data system will be developed to allow more efficient access to data across time, so that students can be tracked throughout their P-20 careers.
4) Interoperability. The goal is to facilitate the efficient and standardized exchange between ESP-20 and contributing data systems.
5) Strengthening systems. Those systems that supply data to the P-20 system will be strengthened and possibly augmented.

OSPI will serve as the fiscal agent for the grant and the ERDC will manage the execution of the grant activities in collaboration with OSPI, the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program and other partner agencies. This unique arrangement highlights the close collaboration of agencies across state government dedicated to improving the state�s education system. The ERDC was created by the 2007 Washington state Legislature. Its purpose is, in part, to �[conduct] analyses of early learning, K-12, and higher education programs and education issues across the P-20 system.� The ERDC is located in the Office of Financial Management (OFM), the Governor�s Budget Office.

The grant process was administered by the Institute of Education Sciences at the Department of Education. In total, $250 million was awarded this year through the grant competition to 20 states. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands applied.

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