13 States Win $62.2 Million in Grants for Longitudinal Data Systems

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences has awarded a total of $62.2 million in grants to 13 state education departments for the design and implementation of statewide longitudinal data systems.

Intended to help the states generate and use accurate and timely data to meet reporting requirements, support decision-making, and aid education research, the grants range from $3.2 million to $6 million and extend for three years.

These systems are intended to enhance the ability of states to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education data.

In line with the goals of No Child Left Behind to use scientifically-based research data to improve education, the data systems developed with funds from these grants will help states, districts, schools, and teachers make data-driven decisions to improve student learning, as well as facilitate research to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps.

The grantees will be expected to submit annual and final reports on the status of the development and the implementation of these systems.

Awardees of the data system grants, and their three-year totals, are:

Nebraska, $3.5 million.
North Carolina, $6.0 million.
Kansas, $3.8 million.
Colorado, $4.2 million.
Nevada, $6.0 million.
Virginia, $6.1 million.
Indiana, $5.2 million.
Utah, $4.6 million.
New Hampshire, $3.2 million.
Arizona, $6.0 million.
District of Columbia, $5.7 million.
Maine, $3.2 million.
Oregon, $4.7 million.
The grants are authorized by the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002, Title II of the statute that created the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The Institute is the research, evaluation and statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Education.

All 50 states, five territories and the District of Columbia were eligible to apply. In November of 2005, 14 states were awarded three-year grants under this program.

The grantees were selected in a competition based on the merit of their proposals and funds available. The proposals were assessed based on aspects such as the need for the project, the quality of the project’s design, and the quality of the management plan. Further, the proposal peer reviewers looked at how the respective projects promoted the timely generation of accurate data for local, state, and Federal reporting requirements.