2007 Data Quality Campaign Survey
States are making steady progress building data systems to collect student-achievement data, but they need to do a better job analyzing and using the data to improve education systems, concludes a report by the Data Quality Campaign.
Four states have data systems with all 10 of the elements that the Data Quality Campaign considers essential, according to a survey that was the basis of the report. The campaign, an initiative managed by the Austin, Texas-based National Center for Educational Accountability, promotes the development of state-level longitudinal data systems.
Those 10 elements include the ability to track individual students’ test scores from year to year and the collection of demographic data. Forty-seven states have data systems that include five or more of those elements, and almost every state collects student-enrollment and demographic data and can calculate graduation rates and dropout statistics.