More Than a Snapshot

By Chrys Dougherty

A major change is occurring in the way states collect education data. This change has two critical elements: state collection of student-level data, and the ability to match individual student records over time. These changes give states the ability to create longitudinal student data linking records of student enrollment, program participation, test scores, course completion, and graduation over multiple years. By contrast, traditional snapshot data provide only disconnected information on students at a moment in time.

Why is this change important for educators? Simply put, longitudinal data are far more useful for examining school and program effectiveness and identifying promising practices. For this reason, the shift to longitudinal student data should make a significant contribution to school improvement.

What can be learned from longitudinal student data? Using the data, educators, policymakers, and researchers...