In its third annual report, the Data Quality Campaign concludes that six states have all 10 elements of a longitudinal data system that can track the academic growth of individual students from year to year, from preschool through college.
The 2008 survey found that Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, and Utah met all the essential recommendations by the campaign, which is managed by the Austin, Texas-based National Center for Educational Accountability.
Forty-eight states have at least half the elements; in 2005, when the campaign was launched, no states met all the criteria, the report says. And 42 states say they have the data systems needed to calculate longitudinal graduation rates as recommended by the National Governors Association, the report says.
