Connecting the Dots: Harnessing Integrated Data to Improve Education in California

POLICY BRIEF: Connecting the Dots: Harnessing Integrated Data to Improve Education in California 

FULL REPORT: Making California Data More Useful for Educational Improvement 

POLICY BRIEF: Developing a Comprehensive Data System to Further Continuous Improvement in California 

Crafting successful education policy requires evidence. Generating this evidence requires data that do not currently exist, or are not used to their full potential, in California. An integrated educational data system would arm teachers, schools, districts, service providers, and policy makers with the data they need to support students from early childhood through higher education completion. Such data can enable continuous improvement efforts driven by teachers, school leaders, and districts, facilitate coordination among human services agencies and educators to care for children’s in-school and out-of-school needs, and enable policy makers to create, identify, and scale programs proven to improve educational outcomes.

California has a patchwork of data systems that, if integrated and made more accessible, could be leveraged to answer important questions to help improve student services and outcomes; significant improvements to data usefulness could be made at relatively low cost if California policymakers had the political will to do so. In this interview, Jesse Rothstein, Sarah Reber and Meredith Phillips discuss their report: Connecting the Dots: Harnessing Integrated Data to Improve Education in California