California's information about opportunities and outcomes in early learning and care, TK-12 schools, colleges, social services, and employment is currently disconnected. A longitudinal data system can be a powerful tool that allows California to identify bright spots, inequities, and roadblocks in our educational system, especially for students of…

In 2019, California passed legislation that called for the creation of its longitudinal data system, the Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System. Since then, the state has allocated $40.52 million in funding to support the agency's efforts. Given the substantial state investment and the potential for more, better, and accessible data to answer critical…

Higher education is a key driver of economic mobility and future growth in California. Yet there is much unknown about how students advance from K-12 schools to postsecondary education and into the workforce--and where they falter. This lack of knowledge stems from the fragmented nature of California's education data and inhibits informed decision…

This project assesses the feasibility of creating a voluntary, nationwide data dictionary that can be used to standardize the reporting of postsecondary accountability reporting requirements for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (otherwise known as Perkins IV). Variables, field codes, and programming instructions,…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), most recently reauthorized in 2004, requires the inclusion of transition services in an individualized education program (IEP) for students with disabilities by the time they reach their 16th birthday, or earlier if determined appropriate by the IEP team. The IEP must include "(1)…

This Evidence Based Education (EBE) response describes characteristics of graduation coach initiatives in three states (Georgia, Alabama, and California). Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast has received over 19 requests for information on various initiatives, programs or research related to improving graduation rates. For example, the…

Response to intervention (RTI) can be both a system for providing early interventions to struggling students and a special education diagnostic tool for evaluating and identifying students with specific learning disabilities. Contributing to the very limited literature on state-level approaches, this report describes how nine states define and…

An information storage and retrieval system has been developed for reporting job placement and followup data of persons trained in industrial education programs in California public schools. The system is built around five forms: (1) school registration, (2) verification of enrollment, (3) verification of address, (4) in-class follow-through, and…

This report of the Joint Committee on Educational Goals and Evaluation to the California Legislature discusses the need for educational goals and evaluation, the committee investigation, and the collection of information. As a result of the investigation, it was concluded that: (1) it is essential that the goal-setting process include the…

This report provides a comprehensive account of the performance of students with disabilities on state assessment measures. Following an overview of the issues, it explains the laws that govern the reporting of assessment results (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (IDEA) and Title I of the Elementary and Secondary…

Presented is the summary report of a 5-year research program conducted in California to investigate substantive problems and questions relevant to the education of exceptional children, with emphasis on research questions having direct implications for the development and operation of public school special education programs. Priority…

This report comprises edited versions of the presentations from the 17 participants in a conference under the sponsoreship of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. The conference was designed to enable policy-makers, educators, and business people to share perspectives on the most effective methods for identifying and collecting data that…

This report is intended as a guide for local comprehensive integrated school-linked services sites and software vendors in developing and implementing case management information systems for the exchange and management of client data. The report is also intended to influence new development and future revisions of data systems, databases, and…

Four products were developed during the second year of the Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) cost effectiveness study for California community colleges. This project report presents: (1) a revised cost analysis form for state-level reporting of institutional program effectiveness data and per-student costs by EOPS program category…

The methodology associated with the California Study of Elementary Mathematics is examined. The article includes an overview of state policy and a description of participants and data collection procedures at the state, school district, school, and classroom levels, including methods used to collect data for development of case studies. (TJH)