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Strategic Objective

Data Systems and Transparency

Strategic Objective

Facilitate the development of interoperable longitudinal data systems for early learning through employment to enable data-driven, transparent decision-making by increasing access to timely, reliable, and high-value data.

Lead Office: Institute of Education Sciences

Themes:

Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services

ED.gov

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Overview
Progress Update

No Data Available

Progress Update

The Department continues to focus upon providing technical assistance to the field to support the development and use of longitudinal data systems that serve the education needs of the states. In recent years a core focus for this work has been upon implementing and sustaining connections that span the complete student lifecycle. The SLDS grant program works with a State Support Team (SST) of experienced government and industry experts in the area of data systems development, connection and maintenance. The technical assistance provided by the SST is available to all states, not only to active grantees of the SLDS grant program. This level of support has enabled better conversations across states, sharing of both technical and business process best practices, and helped bring to life the number of new K-12 and postsecondary to workforce connections and P–12 to early childhood data connections that surpassed our targets for FY 2015 on both metrics.

Collaboration is key to the success of this objective. SLDS staff work frequently with other Department programs, including the ELC, as well as coordinating with Department of Labor’s Workforce Data Quality Information program. The Department continues to collaborate with technical experts, standards organizations and key stakeholders in the maintenance, enhancement and roll-out of CEDS. In FY 2015, in addition to successfully completing a new grant round and awarding 16 new SLDS grants to support collaborative data uses, a new contract was awarded to support CEDS enhancements, tools and uses over the next two years. States, postsecondary institutions and independent research groups continue to use the online CEDS tools to map their data systems, data uses and data models to CEDS.

The Department continues to model the transparency we are working to develop in the field by updating and expanding the ED Data Inventory. While work to improve the functionality and connections of the ED Data Inventory system have stalled due to budgetary limitations, the work to improve and enhance the Inventory’s content continues to move forward. Collections and reports from Department programs within seven different Principal Office Components are now represented in the Inventory. This resulted in 74 distinct publicly available datasets across the Department being connected to an Inventory entry. The Inventory continues to provide source information to data.gov on a regular basis.

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Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal:

Continuous Improvement of the U.S. Education System

Statement:

Enhance the education system’s ability to continuously improve through better and more widespread use of data, research and evaluation, evidence, transparency, innovation, and technology.

Strategic Objectives

Data Systems and Transparency

Statement:

Description:No Data Available

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Privacy

Statement:

Provide all education stakeholders, from early childhood to adult learning, with technical assistance and guidance to help them protect student privacy while effectively managing and using student information.

Description:No Data Available

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Research, Evaluation, and Use of Evidence

Statement:

Invest in research and evaluation that builds evidence for education improvement; communicate findings effectively; and drive the use of evidence in decision-making by internal and external stakeholders.

Description:No Data Available

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Technology and Innovation

Statement:

Accelerate the development and broad adoption of new, effective programs, processes, and strategies, including education technology.

Description:

To achieve the president’s 2020 college attainment goal, the nation’s education system will need to graduate many more college-ready students from high school, ensure they have access to postsecondary education, and support them as they complete their degrees—all while facing resource constraints. When other sectors of the economy need to become better, faster, or more productive, they innovate, often relying on technology for help. The education sector is no different, and the need for innovation—and its benefits—spans grade levels, curricular areas, and student needs.

A 21st-century infrastructure that harnesses modern technological advances and provides easy access to high-speed Internet can serve as a platform for greater innovation in education. Accordingly, the Department will continue to focus on ways to improve schools’ technology infrastructure and effective use of technology. It will also continue to work with Congress to establish a new advanced research projects agency for education that will use directed research and development activities to pursue breakthrough technological innovations in teaching and learning.

Technology holds the potential to expand all students’ opportunities to learn, including by supporting personalized learning experiences, providing dynamic digital content, and delivering more meaningful assessments. Technology can also help districts and schools support teachers in becoming more effective and better connected to the tools, resources, and expertise students need and help them meet more rigorous college- and career-ready standards. Technology can also help schools by providing students and school library media specialists with increased access to academic tools and other resource-sharing networks. Technology can also help schools by providing students and school library media specialists with increased access to academic tools and other resource-sharing networks. Technology-enabled instructional and assessment systems will be pivotal to improving student learning and generating data that can be used to continuously improve the education system at all levels. Innovative technology must be matched by innovative educational practices to maximize its potential to improve learning and instruction for all students, and it must be accessible to all students, including students with disabilities. Leadership is essential to ensure that innovative applications are disseminated and brought to scale.

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Agency Priority Goals

FY 14-15: Enable evidence-based decision making

Statement:

By September 30, 2015, the percentage of select new[1] (non-continuation) competitive grant dollars that reward evidence will increase by 70%.

[1] “New competitive grant dollars that reward evidence” includes all dollars awarded based on the existence of at least “evidence of promise” in support of a project, per the framework in the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (34 CFR Part 75). Consideration of such evidence appears through: eligibility threshold (e.g., in the Investing in Innovation program); absolute priority; competitive priority (earning at least one point for it); or selection criteria (earning at least one point for it). The percentage is calculated compared to the total new grant dollars awarded.

Description:

GOAL OVERVIEW

Through its mix of grants, contracts, and internal analytic work, the Department of Education (ED) will support the use of research methods and rigorous study designs that provide evidence that is as robust as possible and fit for the purpose. This goal will track whether ED is increasing its internal capacity to make competitive grant awards based on the existence of (and amount of) evidence in support of projects, where appropriate.

KEY BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES

The process to collect data and track progress against the goal is still under development, and using evidence to award competitive grants entails a shift in culture and capacity building across ED to do it well. Additionally, goal targets are based on reasonable projections about which competitive grant programs may make new awards in this fiscal year, but the actual dollar amount awarded will depend on final appropriations amounts and other funding decisions and trade-offs. Grantees vary in their comfort with and understanding of evaluation and use of evidence, yet ED has limited resources to support grantees in conducting rigorous evaluations that would produce evidence of effectiveness.

EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS

There is an increasing emphasis among stakeholders on the importance of using evidence to support government program funding decisions, and ED regularly engages the field on this topic. A number of outside organizations have convened experts to discuss how to encourage such decisions. In addition, philanthropic and congressional actors prioritized using evidence to support decision-making and have encouraged the field to do the same. Finally, ED has worked with the National Science Foundation to develop a common evidence framework around which to organize research investments and grants. Indeed, ED is considered a leader on the issue among federal agencies, and external groups are eager for ED to deepen and broaden its efforts.

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