Dive Brief:
- In a new USA Today op-ed, former North Carolina Gov. Bev Purdue and former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna say data should be used under the new Every Student Succeeds Act to help schools and students perform to the best of their ability.
- By using longitudinal data systems, schools can pinpoint issues and help all students, and instructional practices can be modified and updated to help meet student needs.
- The Data Quality Campaign has released four concrete recommendations for policymakers related to ESSA, including measuring what matters, making data use possible, being transparent and earning trust, and guaranteeing access and protect privacy.
Dive Insight:
Parents, lawmakers, and other stakeholders still harbor concerns over transparency when it comes to the use of student data, specifically how students' information is used and how it's protected. In addition to the new recommendations, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has also studied best practices for student data management. Half-truths have haunted the student data debate, and according to the DQC, some of them have already been thoroughly debunked.
Additionally, a recent Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) EdTechNext report designed to help educators and administrators address student data and privacy challenges analyzed the need for identity and access management in digital education technologies. That report defined the benefits of such resources, and looked at how schools in the U.S. are currently utilizing them.
To address the recommendations, states can start by assessing their own district needs by evaluating what data already exists. Taking a proactive approach to communication with the greater community will also increase trust and encourage two-way dialogue around the often difficult issue of student privacy and improving performance with data. District leaders can also consider a "small data" approach, which looks at the myriad impacts of learning on the lives and minds of learners at a local level.
