Only weeks into its new term, the Trump administration has taken steps to lay off federally funded education research staff, cancel nearly $1 billion in contracts and dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. These moves have upended evaluations of federally funded education programs and threatened access to massive data sets that states,…

A national poll from the Data Quality Campaign (DQC), conducted by The Harris Poll, surveyed early childhood administrators--educational or child care professionals in program director or general manager roles serving children from birth through age four--to find out how they are collecting, using, and reporting data. Early childhood…

This study aimed to address the state of data driven decision practices within the Division of Student Affairs at South County College. Framed by an exploratory qualitative case study, this project conducted semi-structured interviews of directors of student affairs and a document analysis of annual reports of the seven departments that constitute…

Background: Knowledge brokering plays an important role in the evidence-to-policy system, but little is known about whether and how it occurs within government departments. Aims and objectives: Using empirical evidence from one UK government department, this article analyses how knowledge brokering takes place inside the policy making process and…

People need access to data to make decisions about post-high school experiences, including postsecondary education. Policymakers need to better understand how financial circumstances relate to college enrollment and completion. And students and their families need information about how much financial aid they may have access to for financing their…

For decades, states have been investing in statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) that connect individual-level data over time from early childhood, K-12, postsecondary, and workforce. Because of these investments, most states have a powerful tool that could provide people with the information they need to make decisions at key transition…

Non-academic factors such as school climate, grit, and growth mindset are receiving much attention in recent education policy and practice. Within this context, this study (N = 425) describes the distribution of U.S. in-service teachers' access to and use of 10 categories of non-academic data. Findings indicate that in-service teachers vary widely…

This dissertation study explores how teachers perceive and use data to inform their instructional practices and ultimately impact student achievement. The research focuses on whether or not data availability impacted how often teachers used data for instructional purposes and if leadership and coaching practices impacted teachers' perception of…

Everyone who uses student information has a responsibility to maintain students' privacy and the security of their data. Ensuring student data privacy is about so much more than complying with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). While privacy must be top of mind when thinking about collecting and using personally identifiable…

In 2024, state legislators introduced hundreds of bills that would affect data collection, access, and use across early education, K-12, postsecondary, and the workforce. As in 2023, legislators continued to introduce and enact legislation governing cross-agency data systems. These policies are the most important step toward making statewide…

Universities face increasing demands for the use of data to inform decision-making; with increasing amounts of data collected, the access and exchange of information continues to become more difficult in organizations. This study examines the roles of social capital and brokerage in the exchange of institutional information among administrative…

The advances in technology to capture and process unprecedented amounts of educational data has boosted the interest in Learning Analytics Dashboard (LAD) applications as a way to provide meaningful visual information to administrators, parents, teachers and learners. Despite the frequent argument that LADs are useful to support target users and…

State and school report cards provide a powerful avenue for states to reach families and the broader public as essential partners in improving student outcomes. The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and many state legislatures require states to publish an array of education data including measures at the state, district, and school levels.…

Implemented in 2013, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) requires Local Education Agencies (LEA's) to engage in a continuous improvement process that identifies actions that extend and improve services for targeted student groups. The vision of the LCFF is that all stakeholder groups including Staff (certificated, classified, management and…

The primary purpose of Title 1, Part D programs is to improve the educational outcomes for youth who are categorized as "neglected" (n), "delinquent" (d), or at-risk under the statute. This brief is designed to help State Coordinators, grantees involved in data collection or analyses, and personnel involved in the design of…