Connecticut

The following profile is a representation of the Illinois public education state longitudinal data system (SLDS) as presented through publicly available resources of public primary, secondary and higher education, information made available to the public through the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Data Quality Campaign, published research articles, other third party internet resources (as noted), and direct contact with state and federal public education officials.   It is not a formal program evaluation.

The information provided is intended for use by academic researchers, state and federal public education policy makers, educators, and student households.

Introduction Evaluation Criteria Governance and Maintenance Data Providers
Funding Researcher Access Public User Portal Legal Statues
DQC Contact Schematic State Response
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Download State Profile WIN Dashboard Win Website NCES SLDS Funding:
2006   2009

Introduction

The Preschool Through 20 and Workforce Information Network (P20 WIN)[1] is Connecticut’s public education state longitudinal data system (SLDS)[2] governed by the P20 WIN Executive Board, Data Governing Board and Data Steward Committee. These are cross-agency bodies that establish and implement data governance policies which state agencies involved with the P20 WIN must follow. The P20 WIN, created for the purpose of collecting and analyzing Connecticut public education data at the individual, course, institution, and system level, aggregates data records from the breadth of the Connecticut public education systems. The combined data collection systems are part a nation-wide effort to record granular public education detail over time in order to document the entirety of students’ education experience. This information is intended to be available for analysis and public policy consideration for the purpose of producing improvements in student learning at preschool, elementary, secondary, post-secondary, and higher education levels, and to optimize labor market outcomes, individually and generally through the improvement of workforce training programs as well.

Connecticut is one of the 47 states having received public funding to create a state longitudinal data system (SLDS). Despite state-to-state differences, each SLDS shares a common purpose of supporting research and analysis with the intent of informing individual, household, and public policy decisions based on standardized criteria.

[1] The Preschool Through 20 and Workforce Information Network enables state agencies to link education and workforce data to answer questions critical to understanding Connecticut’s future education workforce needs http://www.ct.edu/initiatives/p20win#overview
[2] State longitudinal data systems are intended to enhance the ability of states to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education data https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/about_SLDS.asp
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Evaluation Criteria

This review assesses the overall quality of the P20 WIN as an SLDS by considering the nature of the organization maintaining the data system, those agencies and institutions providing inputs to the data system, and to which agencies and institutions the data systems’ outputs are available. The assessment also considers the data system’s funding mechanisms, internal and external researcher data accessibility, the quality of the data system’s public user interface (dashboard), and the data system’s current Data Quality Campaign (DQC)[1] ranking. This report considers each of these criteria pertaining to the P20 WIN and provides contact information to the departments and individuals who maintain and manage the SLDS.

[1] The Data Quality Campaign is a national, nonprofit organization leading the effort to bring every part of the education community together to empower educators, parents, and policymakers with quality information to make decisions that ensure students excel http://dataqualitycampaign.org/
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Governance and Maintenance

The P20 WIN is governed by a Data Governance Policy which establishes the P20 WIN Executive Board, Data Governance Board and Data Steward Committee. Together, these three groups provide leadership to the state entities which provide data records to the data system, policy creation agendas, and system implementation, maintenance, and improvement. Any decision under consideration by these groups must receive unanimous support from their members to be approved.

The P20 WIN Executive Board is a multi-agency committee that provides vision, oversight and leadership to the state agencies, institutions, and committees involved with the P-20 WIN. The board is comprised of the chief executive officer or their designee from each agency that participates with the P-20 WIN. It has the ultimate decision making authority over what current and future operations will be undertaken in relation to the data system. The Executive Board’s specific responsibilities are to:[1]

  • Advance a vision for P20 WIN including a prioritized research agenda with support from the Data Governing Board and the P20 Council in accord with applicable federal and state law and the authority of each of the participating agencies
  • Each member will identify representatives from its respective agency to serve on the Data Governing Board
  • Convene to respond to escalated issues from the Data Governing Board
  • Identify and work to secure resources necessary to sustain the P20 WIN beyond the initial grant funding
  • Champion system implementation, maintenance and improvement by advocating the P20 WIN in regard to policy, legislation and resources
  • Members of this group not only represent the interest of their agency but, consistent with applicable law and their agency’s authority, work to support the state’s vision for P20 WIN
  • Have overall fiscal and policy responsibility for the system
  • Ensure that in any circumstance in which public funds or resources are to be joint utilized with those from private entities such arrangements are governed by appropriate agreements approved by the Attorney General

The P20 WIN Data Governing Board establishes and enforces policies related to cross-agency data management between the agencies that participate with the P20 WIN. The board is comprised of one staff member from each of agency which has the authority to provide resources to support their agency’s participation with the P20 WIN. These members work collaboratively to create policies for the implementation, maintenance, security and improvement of P20 WIN. Once these policies are approved by the P20 WIN Executive Board, the Data Governing Board members are responsible for implementing and enforcing these policies.[2]

The P20 WIN Data Steward Committee develops recommendations and provides oversight for the technical implementation of the data system. It also is responsible for the availability, security and quality of data shared through the data system. Each participating agency must provide two experts to serve on the committee, a primary data user expert and a primary information technical expert. The Data Steward Committee recommends to the Data Governing Board policies or practices relating to the data system that need to be developed or improved. It is then responsible for implementing policies and practices approved by the Governing Board.[3]

[1] Information obtained from the P20 WIN Data Governance Policy resource http://www.ct.edu/files/pdfs/AttachmentD_P20WIN_DataGovernancePolicy_Signed_052815.pdf
[2] See ref. 4
[3] See ref. 4
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Data  Providers

The P20 WIN enables the connection of data records from each of the participating agencies whose members comprised the Executive Board, the Data Governance Board and the Data Steward Committee. This includes the Connecticut State Department of Education (CDSE), the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU), the University of Connecticut (UConn), the Connecticut Department of Labor (DOL), and the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC). The P20 WIN is a federated data system; it does not have a centralized data warehouse for storing data records. Instead, participating agencies provide unit level data records to fulfill approved data requests from another participating agency on an ad hoc basis. The P20 WIN enables the linkage of these data records so that education and workforce outcomes may be analyzed. When data are linked, the output is a data set fonalysis. The participating agency that has been approved as the Authorized Representative to conduct the approved request conduct the analysis and then produces a report as necessary.

The participating agencies can provide the following data records to support approved evaluations:

  • Connecticut State Department of Education (CDSE) – PK-12 data records
  • Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education (BOR) – Higher-ed data records
  • University of Connecticut (UConn) – Higher-ed data records
  • Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC) – Higher-ed data records
  • Connecticut Department of Labor (DOL) – Workforce data records

The data records from these agencies are linked through a two-step process. The first step determines whether records from different agencies pertain to the same or different individuals. The P20 WIN utilizes data matching software to identify matches between data sets provided by each agency. This software can use the following identifier variables to match data records:[1]

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Middle name
  • Date of birth
  • Social security number
  • High school code
  • State assigned student identifier (SASID)

Once matches are complete, the P20 WIN removes personally identifiable information from the data set and attaches a generic unique group identifier for each match. In the second step of this process, the entity approved to conduct the audit or evaluation brings these de-identified data records together for analysis using the generic group identifiers as the key.  Linked data records contain unit record data that the approved analyst uses to identify patterns and conduct evaluations.

[1] See ref. 7
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Funding

The CDSE applied for federal funding through the Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grant program administered by the Institute of Education Sciences, an agency of the United States Department of Education, in 2006 and 2009 and was awarded two grants, the 2006 SLDS Grant and the 2009 SLDS Grant, for the purpose of developing a longitudinal student information system within the CSDE and increasing data interoperability between state agencies. The 2006 SLDS Grant awarded Connecticut $1,500,714 for the purpose of developing the foundation components of a data system for CSDE. This funding was used to pay for the various costs associated with developing a data system, including: personnel costs, travel costs, equipment costs, contractual costs, and indirect costs. The proposed outcomes to be produced using this funding included:[1]

  • The specification and development of an enterprise-wide Persistent Data Storage Facility
  • The development of data marts, facing applications and decision support cubes used to disseminate data from the persistent data stores to the district, school, student, parent and public level
  • Provide training to LEA staff on the appropriate use of persistent data, decision support tools, identify management and password provisioning
  • A collaboration with the University of Connecticut Health Center, to develop a longitudinal research data warehouse, federating de-identified data from the Connecticut Departments: Education; Children and Families; Public Health; and Mental Retardation
  • Develop SIF Zones and SIF agents to pilot horizontal and vertical reporting models (possible collaboration with other states)
  • Develop a data dictionary to serve as a conclusive meta-library for elements collected on behalf of the department (possible collaboration with other states)

The 2009 SLDS Grant awarded Connecticut $2,937,416 for the purpose of further developing the infrastructure within CSDE by developing a student/schedule/teacher module and improving data sharing between PK-12, higher education and labor. This funding was used to pay for the various costs associated with developing a data system, including: personnel costs, travel costs, equipment costs, contractual costs, and indirect costs. The proposed outcomes to be produced using this funding include:[2]

  • Student-schedule-staff module: track course taking patterns for monitoring and evaluation purposes, and to more efficiently determine high qualified teacher status for NCLB
    • Establish a statewide course code taxonomy using NCES course code standards
    • Develop a vertical SIF component to facilitate the data transfer process between the SEA and LEA’s student information systems
    • Create a student-schedule staff module and data mart that contains student demographic and assessment results data, course type and associated teacher data such as age, years of experience, degree held, certification type, and teacher preparation program attended
    • Enhancement of secure data dissemination for SEA and LEA decision support
[1] Information obtained from the Connecticut 2006 SLDS Grant application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Connecticut2006.pdf
[2] Information obtained from the Connecticut 2009 SLDS Grant application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Connecticut2009.pdf
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Research Accommodation

Data requests to analyze the linked longitudinal data records provided by the P20 WIN will only be approved for the purpose of conducting an audit or evaluation of a publically funded education program. These analyses must also be to the benefit of a Local or State Education Agency or Authority. Interested researchers requesting data may submit a proposal to the P20 WIN manager. This proposal must be considered by the Local or State Education Authority being audited or evaluated to determine if it is compliant with the Authority’s requirements. Requests that meet the Authority’s requirements will be sent to the P20 WIN Data Governing Board for further consideration.

Data requests must answer the following questions:[1]

  • Basic data request information
    • Data request title
    • Agencies from which data is being requested
    • List of program employees that have discussed the data request
  • Requestor information
    • Name
    • Title
    • Organization
    • Mailing Address
    • Email Address
    • Phone Number
    • Contact information of all other individuals that will be working with the data
  • Alignment of purpose and scope
    • Brief summary of data request
    • Purpose of request and purpose of audit or evaluation of federal or state supported education programs
    • Description on the benefit that this audit or evaluation will provide to a Local or State Education Authority or Agency and the state of Connecticut
    • Description of the method of analysis
    • Description of the documents or reports that will reference data from this data request
    • Description of the statistical methods that will be used to minimize the risk of re-identification of personally identifiable information for data to be published
  • Protection of confidentiality
    • What date will the datasets and all paper or electronic copies be destroyed?
[1] Information obtained from P20 WIN Data Request Document http://www.ct.edu/files/pdfs/P20WIN-DataRequestProcedure-Final_01202015.pdf
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Public User Portal

The P20 WIN has a unique user portal which the public can access to analyze aggregate level data sets pertaining to Connecticut students’ education and workforce outcomes As the designated Administrative Lead Agency, The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) created an informative public user portal that thoroughly explains the P20 WIN, its functionality, purpose and governance structures. The quality of this portal will be evaluated using several different criteria which include: the user-friendliness of the portal, the extent of information offered by the portal, whether the portal is self-sufficient or relies upon other webpages to provide information, and the extent of customizable reports that can be made using the portal.[1]

  • User-friendliness:
    • The portal is easily-accessible through the CSCU’s online site and is intuitive to navigate. Its home page clearly explains to users what type of information can be found in the portal. It also provides resources to help users understand what type of data is used in the P20 WIN and the contact information of the P20 WIN manager.
  • Extent of information offered:
    • The portal provides the following information sections; Overview, Process, FAQ, Requests and Reports, Charts and Contact. The Overview section provides general information about the P20 WIN and its purpose. The Process section explains how the participating agencies developed legal agreements and data governance structures in order to be able to create the P20 WIN. The FAQ section answers commonly asked questions about the data system. The Requests and Reports section provides reports created through use of the P20 WIN. The Charts section provides aggregate level data sets on education outcomes relevant to the CSCU. The Contact section provides the contact information of the P20 WIN manager.
  • Self-sufficiency of the portal:
    • The portal provides direct access to all information, resources and reports located within it. In addition to these sources, the portal provides links to all of the agencies’ websites that participate with the P20 WIN.
  • Extent of customizable reports that can be generated through the portal:
    • The portal only allows users to customize reports relevant to the CSCU. This includes information pertaining to higher-education performance and labor force outcomes. Charts can be generated specific to graduation cohort year, type of degree obtained, and specific labor force outcomes. These outcomes include variables like percent employed, wages earned and wage growth.
[1] Information obtained from the CSCU’s P20 WIN online site http://www.ct.edu/initiatives/p20win
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There is no Connecticut statute that provides authority for the P20 WIN. The P20 WIN is a necessary but voluntary collaboration between participating state agencies and entities.

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DQC

The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan national advocacy organization that evaluates each state’s longitudinal data system to determine how effectively each state uses their data system for education improvement purposes. The DQC’s annual survey, Data for Action (DFA)[1], measures each state’s progress towards implementing the 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems and the Ten State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use[2], a set of elements and policy actions proposed to produce quality data systems and increase student achievement within in each state.

Connecticut has currently met each of the 10 essential elements:

  • Element 1 – Statewide student identifier
  • Element 2 – Student-level enrollment data
  • Element 3 – Student-level test data
  • Element 4 – Information on untested students
  • Element 5 – Statewide teacher identifier with a teacher-student match
  • Element 6 – Student-level course completion data
  • Element 7 – Student-level SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement exam data
  • Element 8 – Student-level graduation and dropout data
  • Element 9 – Ability to match student-level P-12 and higher education data
  • Element 10 – State data audit system

Connecticut has currently met 7 of the 10 state actions:

  • State Action 2 – Create stable, sustainable support for longitudinal data systems
  • State Action 3 – Develop governance structures for longitudinal data systems
  • State Action 4 – Build state data repositories
  • State Action 6 – Create progress reports with student-level data for educators, students, and parents
  • State Action 7 – Create reports with longitudinal statistics to guide system-level change
  • State Action 8 – Develop a purposeful research agenda
  • State Action 10 – Promote strategies to raise awareness of available data

Connecticut has failed to meet the following state actions:

  • State Action 1 – Link state K-12 data systems with early learning, postsecondary, workforce, and other critical state agency data systems
  • State Action 5 – Provide timely, role-based access to data
  • State Action 9 – Implement policies and promote practices to build educators’ capacity to use data

Data Quality Campaign score: 7/10

Please note that the DQC conducted this evaluation in 2014. It appears that Connecticut has met state actions 1 and 9 since this time but the matter remains uncertain.

[1] DQC’s annual survey, Data for Action (DFA), is a powerful tool to inform efforts in education to better use data in decision making. It is a series of analyses that highlight state progress and key priorities to promote the effective use of longitudinal data to improve student achievement
[2] DQC’s 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems and 10 State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use provide a roadmap for state policymakers to create a culture of effective data use in which quality data are not only collected but also used to increase student achievement
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Contact

Jan Kiehne
P20 WIN Program Manager
Phone: (860) 723-0236
Email: kiehnej@ct.edu

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Schematic

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State Response

SLDS stakeholders listed under Contacts (above) have been provided a copy of this State Profile and given an opportunity to provide comments in response.  No comments have been received for this state to date.

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