Special Report
Education Funding News in Brief

20 States Split $250 Million To Expand Data Systems

By Michele McNeil — June 07, 2010 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Twenty states will share $250 million in federal grants to improve their longitudinal-data systems after winning a national competition funded by the economic-stimulus package passed by Congress last year.

The awards, announced late last month by the Institute for Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, seek to help states link data about students from their early-childhood years into their careers.

As a part of that effort, the grants will help states match student data with teacher data, a key component needed in new teacher-evaluation systems that seek to tie evaluations to student performance.

All states plus the District of Columbia applied for the awards. The winners, selected by an outside panel of peer reviewers, are Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The amounts awarded range from $5.1 million for Ohio to $19.7 million for New York, with the average award being $12.5 million.

The award money can be spent over three years.

To win the money, states had to propose plans for improving their data systems. South Carolina, for example, plans to use its grant to deliver better data, more quickly, to principals and teachers by creating a new curriculum-management system. That new system will include basic identification and demographic information about students and teachers, test results, student learning styles, and information on the instructional programs and resources being used. The planned system, state officials say, will allow educators to more easily and quickly analyze data to determine the effectiveness of programs and teachers.

“When this grant is fully implemented, we’ll be able to send data directly to teacher and principal desktops, and that will impact the way students are taught and the way they learn,” South Carolina Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said in a statement.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the June 09, 2010 edition of Education Week as 20 States Split $250 Million To Expand Data Systems

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Equity & Diversity Webinar
Classroom Strategies for Building Equity and Student Confidence
Shape equity, confidence, and success for your middle school students. Join the discussion and Q&A for proven strategies.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Disrupting PD Day in Schools with Continuous Professional Learning Experiences
Hear how this NC School District achieved district-wide change by shifting from traditional PD days to year-long professional learning cycles
Content provided by BetterLesson
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding 4 Ways States Are Trying to Fix How They Fund Schools
Advocates in many places are pushing for reforms that precisely target more robust aid to schools and students in need.
6 min read
one woman and two men with a large calculator and next to large stacks of bills and coins.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Education Funding Pennsylvania School Funding Is Unconstitutional, Judge Says. Here's What Could Happen Next
An appeal could be on the way, but advocates are already gearing up to make the case for funding reform.
6 min read
Stock image of a gavel on top of a pile of money.
iStock/Getty Images
Education Funding 6 Lawsuits That Could Shake Up How States Pay for Schools
Far removed from annual budgets, these lawsuits hold the potential to force states to direct more funds to their schools.
6 min read
Large white hand holding a weighing scale with a bag of money on one side and books with floating letters on the other side showing a balance of knowledge and money
iStock/Getty
Education Funding States Are Rolling in Surplus Cash, But It's Not All Good News for Schools
Some states are ramping up education spending, while others are leaving districts disappointed.
7 min read
Illustration of a man holding oversized money.
Nuthawut Somsuk/iStock/Getty