Resources

If you are an agency lead who provides information to state longitudinal data systems, a manager of such a system, a policymaker working to expand available data, or an organization seeking greater access to data, this website will help you create a customized roadmap to a modern longitudinal data system. That way, more people in your state get the information they need to improve education and economic outcomes, while protecting individual privacy.

Many states are rethinking the way they link data sets. Strengthening these links and opening access to data involves complex, interconnected questions of governance, technical architecture, security frameworks, data definitions, legal agreements, and the management of interested parties.

The resource will help you create a customized roadmap for data system modernization, including relevant information for your state and situation, suggestions for next steps to take, and tools and resources to get you there. This will help you to:

• Broaden the understanding of who benefits from increased access to data and supporting its interpretation
• Follow user-centered design principles to make information easily accessible to a range of different audiences
• Anticipate and navigate the legal, security, and data quality issues that come up around data access
• Build a system that contextualizes education and workforce outcomes with other information such as social service data
• Adopt modernizing and streamlining technology to make improvements affordable
• Bridge Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements

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Curious to see how California did it? You can visit the Designing California’s Cradle-to-Career Data System website to learn more about the 18-month planning process that successfully re-envisioned what it means to link education and employment data, which offers a model for lessons learned that other states can use in their processes.