Unified Educational Enterprise Working Group

Joint Boards of Education

Statewide Longitudinal Data System

Project ALDER: Advancing Longitudinal Data for Educational Reform

Doug Kosty, Oregon Department of Education (ODE)

November 16, 2010

The purpose of this report is to provide the UEE Working Group an update on the progress of Oregon’s latest statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS) grant, Project ALDER, and a preview of policy questions that may arise for UEE consideration. This document provides the reader with background information on pK-12 data systems work over the past 12 years in Oregon, a brief description of the 4 high-level ALDER outcomes and some initial policy issues.

Background:

This portion of the document provides a very high level recap of several key data system projects that are essential to understand where Oregon has come from over the past decade. In addition to the work described below,it is important for the reader to keep in mind that Oregon stakeholders from P-12, postsecondary and workforce have participated in policy discussions through a variety of venues. It is also important for the reader to understand that this work has required intentional changes to the organizational and decision-making framework withinOregon. As a result of this work, Oregon is recognized as a leader in longitudinal data systems work at a national level and is one of only two states with three SLDS grants.

The Database Initiative Project

The Oregon Department of Education launched the Database Initiative (DBI) Project in1997. The project was developed in response to the need to make better educational funding decisions through information and technology. TheK-12 school budget and accounting system was updated to produce comparable spendinginformation for schools and districts, and data made accessible to the public.The statewide implementation of the project resulted in a powerful web-based system to support education policy and decision-making and provide the information that educators need to drive school improvement.

The Secure Student Identifier (SSID)

Oregon became one of the first states in the nation to introduce the use of a unique secure student identifier (SSID) in 2001. The implementation of this system required many lengthy conversations with stakeholders across the state to determine best practices for ensuring data security. Shortly afterwards, the state created the Consolidated Collections database, which stores student-level data on test activities, demographic information, and school attendance details.

Unique Staff Identifier (USID)

In2007, Oregon implemented a newunique staff identifier (USID)system. The USID allows for efficient vertical and horizontal data trackingof every school and school district employee in the state. The project spanned nearly two years, included over 75 distinct data points per staff member, and brought Oregon into compliance with federal requirements for highly qualified teacher reporting.

Pre-K Through Grade 16 Integrated Data System project (KIDS)

Now folded into the State Longitudinal Data System program, the KIDS project was instrumental in integrating all Oregon school districts into a data warehouse, providing a single, accurate and authoritative source of data. Completed in 2010, KIDS also introduced a mechanism for student transcript exchange between schools, districts, and post-secondary institutions.

The Oregon Direct Access to Achievement Project (DATA)

In September 2007, Oregon launched the Oregon Direct Access to Achievement (DATA) Project, funded through the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Grant Program. The project provides a sustainable program of professional development for accessing, collecting and effectively using data to drive classroom instruction, and has enhanced the entire system’s ability to use data to inform instructional decision-making. The project is currently in its fourth and final year.

Oregon Formative Assessment Resources (OFAR)

In May 2009 Oregon began work on its second SLDS grant, Oregon Formative Assessment Resources(OFAR). The project integrates existing ODE infrastructure for statewide assessment data with the University of Oregon's formative evaluation system (easyCBM), and includes a web-based curriculum for the professional development of teachers-in-training. This grant also provided funding to move the ODE data center to the Oregon State University’s Open Source Lab data center.

Project ALDER:

In July 2010, Oregon received its third SLDS grant, Project ALDER: Advancing Longitudinal Data for Educational Reformwhich will create the following outcomes:

  • Consolidation, expansion and integration of early childhood data
  • Integration and expansion of data exchange with post-secondary and workforce partners
  • Development and implementation of a comprehensive statewide data quality plan
  • Development and implementation of a teacher-student linkage

Anexecutive committee has been created to provide leadership on policy issues affecting other ongoing collaborative SLDS efforts. This committee will craft and monitor policy to effectively manage and maximize the ALDER grant’s resources in a manner that is consistent with the proposed grant application and state and federal law. Membership in the executive committee initially includes representatives from the Oregon University System (OUS), Oregon Department of Education (ODE), Oregon Employment Department (OED), Community Colleges and Workforce Development (CCWD), Governor’s Office (GO), and Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC).

This funding was timely and fortunate for Oregon as Governor Kulongoski had to sign an assurance as a condition for accepting the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Program (SFSF) Phase I funds to establish a longitudinal data system by September 2011 that includes the following elements. The italicized elements well be specifically addressed as a result of this funding.

  1. A unique statewide student identifier that does not permit a student to be individually identified by users of the system;
  2. student-level enrollment, demographic, and program participation information;
  3. student-level information about the points at which students exit, transfer in, transfer out, drop out, or complete P-16 education programs;
  4. the capacity to communicate with higher education data systems;
  5. an audit system assessing data quality, validity, and reliability;
  6. yearly State assessment records of individual students;
  7. information on students not tested, by grade and subject;
  8. a teacher identifier system with the ability to match teachers to students;
  9. student-level transcript information, including on courses completed and grades earned;
  10. student-level college readiness test scores;
  11. information regarding the extent to which students transition successfully from secondary school to postsecondary education, including whether students enroll in remedial coursework; and
  12. other information determined necessary to address alignment and adequate preparation for success in postsecondary education.

Additional details for each of the four outcomes follow.

Creation of an educator-student linkage

The development of a robust teacher-student linkage is the major emphasis of Project ALDER. To bridge the gap between our current teacher (USID) and student (SSID) unique secure identifiers, ODE will develop and implement an Instructional Unit Identifier (IUID). Data elements will include an NCES course code, term identifier, class period code, classroom ID, and school code. The teacher-student linkage components will be designed so that teachers’ data is kept confidential and strict security policies are in place to protect them.

A group of Oregon stakeholders representing OEA, ODE, TSPC, Districts, ESD, State Board and the Legislature were invited to attend a conference in New Orleans in September to learn how other states are using this linkage. This group will be invaluable to the success of this outcome and will be called upon periodically to provide guidance.

Consolidation, Expansion and Integration of Early Childhood Data

In Oregon, the Pre-K database consists of a single web-based application for the collection of child-level data across OHS PreK (Oregon Head Start Prekindergarten) and EI/ECSE (Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education) programs. The database includes demographic variables (e.g., age, ethnicity, language of origin). It also captures types of services/settings for children in EI/ECSE and program model and attendance for children receiving OHS PreK services. In order to submit Pre-K data, all children must have an SSID number and are issued one upon enrollment.

Pre-K data from current transactional and other systems will be integrated with ODE K-12 data. Significant new data sources will be incorporated, including attendance and formative assessment data from published standardized measures. Data will also be added from ecWeb applications, used by Oregon EI/ECSE programs for case management and for assessment analysis and tracking. These applications are developed and managed by Early Childhood CARES, a program of the University of Oregon.

Integration and Expansion of Data Exchange with post-secondary and Workforce Partners

CCWD and the 17 community colleges will complete the development of the Student Success Indicators (SSI) to measure student retention, progress, completion and placement in jobs or further education. SSI provide information about how certain groups of community college students (non-English-speaking students, for example) progress through programs. Skill gain measures based on instructional standards or performance criteria enhance the high level outcomes from standardized tests or institutional effectiveness measures.

The Oregon University System has for more than 10 years reported back to high schools on the performance of their graduates during their critical first year of college. These reports have been limited in scope, and though recently improved, the electronic transcript exchange system, still lacks the completeness that can be attained through a P-20 data system. Identification of student attributes such as special education, disabilities, and eligibility for free and reduced lunch, plus additional test scores and attendance patterns, will all add depth and meaning to the reports currently returned to high schools and school districts.

By combining ODE, CCWD and OUS data Oregon can examine student progress and outcomes, and understand what it means to be prepared for college level work. Detailed studies of the curricula of successful students will lead to improvements in the requirements for high school completion, as well as better advising for students earlier in their education. Oregon currently suffers from an inability to identify students continuing on to postsecondary education. A key to this is the open enrollment policy of the community colleges and, consequently, their lack of precision in identifying students’ high school graduation year. By tying records directly with the K-12 source, community colleges will be able to identify the high school graduation year of its students and can then produce a meaningful in-state participation rate.

As a further enhancement of the state longitudinal data system, a contract with National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) is currently being sought which would allow Oregon to submit all the students represented in a single P-20 data system for matching against the NSC Enrollment and Degrees database. This will allow Oregon to follow students into college and to determine complete college participation and graduation rates. By understanding which students choose to go elsewhere, we can institute changes that might allow our students to pursue their postsecondary goals. By following ninth graders through postsecondary, we can accurately report on Oregon’s educational pipeline in its entirety.

ODE will also partner with CCWD and OED to expand data sharing efforts. ODE currently exchanges unemployment insurance wage records with OED via spreadsheets. This project will develop an automated exchange with the Employment Department’s wage record database.

Improving Data Quality

Oregon has significant controls, policies, and procedures in place to ensure data quality throughout the data lifecycle. However, ODE has not developed a comprehensive systematic data quality plan. During the project, partner agencieswill work with data submitters, data owners and stewards, and data consumers to identify appropriate data quality metrics and implement them.

The partner agencies will publish a Comprehensive Data Quality Plan that includes: (a) data quality metrics appropriate to each collection, (b) data quality metrics appropriate to each high-stakes report including a quality assurance plan, and (c) a data quality training program.

Policy Issues and Barriers:

Since Project ALDER is still in its first year, we have not clearly identified all policy issues and barriers. However, given what we do know, following are a few areas that UEE will be likely be hearing from ODE, OUS and CCWD staff over the course of the project:

  • Teacher-Student Connections –What is the purpose for the linkage, specifically how will it be used and how will the data be validated?
  • Research Governance Structure– What is the capacity of our system and how do we determine roles and responsibilities for developing a rich research agenda?
  • Common Data Standards – What role do existing Oregon data standards play inthe development of standards at the national level to share information among states and various sectors?
  • Race/Ethnicity Changes – What impact do new federal guidelines on Race and Ethnicity data collection and reporting have on federally recognized Oregon Tribes and other Oregon American Indians and Alaska Natives?