Utah

The following profile is a representation of the Texas 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 UDA Dashboard UDA Website NCES Funding:
2007
2009-ARRA
2015

Introduction

The Utah Data Alliance (UDA)[1] is Utah’s public education state longitudinal data system (SLDS)[2] jointly managed by the Utah State Board of Education (USBE), Utah System of Higher Education (USHE), Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC), Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS), the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN), and the Utah College of Applied Technology (UCAT). The UDA, created for the purpose of analyzing Utah’s public education data at the individual, course, institution, and system levels, links data records from the breadth of the Utah public education systems. The centralized data collection systems are part of a nation-wide effort to record granular public education detail over time in order to document the entirety of the 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 elementary, secondary, post-secondary, and higher education levels, and to optimize labor market outcomes, individually and generally.

Utah 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.

This review assesses the overall quality of the UDA 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)[3] ranking. This report considers each of these criteria pertaining to UDA and provides contact information to the departments and individuals who maintain and manage the SLDS.

[1] The Utah Data Alliance is a statewide longitudinal database linking K-12 education, postsecondary education, and workforce data http://www.utahdataalliance.org/
[2]  State longitudinal data systems are intended to enhance the ability of states to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education data nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/about_SLDS.asp
[3] 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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Evaluation Criteria

This review assesses the overall quality of the UDA as an SLDS by considering the nature of the organizations overseeing the data system, those agencies providing inputs to the data system, and to which agencies and institutions the data system’s 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)5 ranking. This report considers each of these criteria pertaining to the UDA and provides contact information to the departments and individuals who maintain and manage the SLDS.

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Governance and Maintenance

The UDA is governed by Utah Data Alliance Executive Board (Executive Board), a committee that consists of representatives from each of the state agencies and organizations that jointly manage the data system. The Executive Board is the primary governing body of the UDA, it has the final authority over all matters concerning the data system. Members of the Executive Board are listed below:[1]

  • Rich Nye, Ph.D. – Associate Superintendent (USBE)
  • Kimberly L. Henrie, Ed.D., MBA – Associate Commissioner of Finance and Facilities (USHE)
  • Zachary Barrus – Assistant Commissioner for Institutional Research and Analysis (UCAT)
  • Carrie Mayne – Director of Research and Analysis (DWS)
  • Ray Timothy, Ph.D. – Executive Director (UETN)

The Utah Data Alliance Management Committee (Management Committee) aids the Executive Board in the actual management of the UDA. The Management Committee acts as the consulting and monitoring arm of the Executive Board, serving as the primary overseer of the data system. Members of the Executive Board are listed below:[2]

  • Alberty Tay, Ph.D. – UDA Grant Manager (USBE)
  • Aaron Brough – Data Quality Manager (USBE)
  • David Ma – Manager, Longitudinal Studies (USHE)
  • Jonathan Clark – Director of Institutional Data and Research (UCAT)
  • Andrea K. Rorrer, Ph.D. – Director (UEPC)
  • Jeremy D. Franklin, Ph.D. – Interim Research Coordinator (UEPC)
  • Bryan Peterson – Technical Services Associate Director (UETN)
  • Jeremy Marshall – UDA Project Manager (UETN)
  • Collin Peterson – MIS Supervisor (DWS)

The Executive Board and Management Committee play crucial roles in the expansion and maintenance of the data system. They develop new or revise existing memorandums of understanding with the partner agencies that provide data to the UDA and for outside entities that seek to analyze data within the UDA. They also oversee hiring the UDA Research Coordinator and Technical Coordinator. [3]

The UDA Research Coordinator coordinates the governs the use of data between partner agencies and brokers inter-agency research projects. The coordinator works directly with the UDA staff and partner agency staff to oversee UDA partner research projects. They must monitor the progress of the UDA and provide updates to the Executive Board and Management Committee. Additionally, they must monitor the progress of the UDA in regards to meeting its deliverables for grant funding.

The UDA Technical Coordinator performs the project management functions of the UDA development process. They ensure project activities are appropriately planned, scheduled and carried out in accordance with standards established by the Executive Board. The Technical Coordinator helps the Research Coordinator ensure that projects are completed on-time and meet all required outcomes.

[1] Information obtained from the Utah Data Alliance online site http://www.utahdataalliance.org/about.shtml
[2] Information obtained from the Utah Data Alliance online site http://www.utahdataalliance.org/about.shtml
[3] Information obtained from the 2009 Utah ARRA SLDS Grant Application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Utah2009-ARRA.pdf
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Data Providers

The UDA is a centralized data system that links data from participating state agencies in the UDA Data Share (UDADS). These participating agencies provide the following data records and services for the UDA:[1]

  • Utah State Office of Education (USOE) – Pre-K and K-12 data records
  • Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) – Higher-Ed data records
  • Utah College of Applied Technology (UCAT) – Postsecondary data records
  • Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS) – Workforce data records
  • Utah Education Network (UEN) – Custodian of data records
  • Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) – Primary independent data analysis and research entity

The UDADS is a data warehouse that houses multi-year, multi-job, multi-employment data about Utah students who later become employees. The servers that host the UDADS are housed by the UEN and support the overall infrastructure of the data system. Data from partner agencies are loaded into the UDADS on a quarterly basis. The UDA staff utilize a commercial metadata repository and data dictionary management software to ensure all data coming into the system are accurately cataloged and documented in the data warehouse.

All data contained in the UDADS is de-identified to ensure that student privacy is always upheld. Data matching is conducted through the use of unique statewide student identifiers (SSID) and social security numbers (SSN). All Utah students are assigned an SSID when they enter into the Utah public education system. This identifier follows them throughout their education experience, across Pre-K, K-12, and post secondary education systems. SSIDs are matched with SSNs through the databases provided by USHE or by attribute-probalistic matching techniques in the case when a student enters into the workforce directly from K-12 education.

Data records contained in the UDADS include:[2]

  • Demographics:
    • Age
    • Gender
    • Race/Ethnicity
    • State and National Citizenship
  • Program Participation
    • Special Education
    • English Language Education
    • Free and Reduced Lunch
    • Concurrent Enrollment
    • Gifted Education
    • Adult Basic Education
    • GED
    • Career and Technical Education
  •  Assessments
    • ACT
    • AP
    • CRT
    • CLEP
  • K-12 Enrollment
    • Community and Charter Schools
    • Attendance
    • Class Enrollment
    • Grades and High School GPA
  • K-12 Completion
    • District and School
    • Graduation Cohort and Year
    • Degree Type
  • Postsecondary Enrollment
    • Course Subject and Number
    • Credit or Contact Hours
    • Grades
    • Term Enrollment and GPA
    • Enrollment Intensity
  • Postsecondary Completion
    • Institution
    • Term and Year
    • Degree and Major
    • Cumulative GPA
  • Workforce Participation
    • Industry
    • Quarterly Wages
    • County of Employment
[1] Information obtained from the Utah Data Alliance online site http://www.utahdataalliance.org/research.shtml
[2] Information obtained from the Utah Data Alliance online site http://www.utahdataalliance.org/data.shtml
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Funding

The USOE 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 2007, 2009, and 2015. Utah was awarded three grants, the 2007 SLDS Grant and the 2009 ARRA SLDS Grant, and the 2015 SLDS Grant for the purpose of developing and enhancing its state longitudinal data system. The 2007 SLDS Grant awarded Utah $4,561,763 for the purpose of enhancing the foundational components of its SLDS. This funding was used for the various costs associated with developing a data system, including: travel costs, equipment costs, supplies costs, contractual costs, and indirect costs. The proposed outcomes to be produced using this funding include: [1]

  • Provide a uniform and integrated Utah student record/transcript exchange system definition and transport service to all public schools including postsecondary institutions
  • Improve the data infrastructure of the Utah SLDS
    • Hire contractors to work with the USOE and LEAs to perform a gap analyses to determine how well the current School Interoperability Framework standard fulfills the needs of LEA to LEA, LEA to postsecondary, and LEA to USOE
    • Create transport architecture to be used within all LEAs
    • Hire SIF Agents
    • Create a SIF Advisory Committee
    • Assemble a report of all the LEAs describing their readiness for participation in the SLDS

The 2009 ARRA SLDS Grant awarded Utah $9,617,736 for the purpose of further expanding the capabilities of SLDS and create the UDADS architecture. This funding was used to pay for the various costs associated with the development of a data system, which include: travel costs, equipment costs, supplies costs, contractual costs, and indirect costs. The proposed outcomes to be produced using this funding include: [2]

  • Construct and update the UDADS through scheduled import of data from partner agencies
  • Transform, clean and load the data and integrate them into an accessible and timely data store for the analysts, statisticians and researchers
  • Emphasize sound data management and governance practice throughout the project
  • Facilitate ongoing training and staff development throughout the project to ensure that those using the data understand the semantics and the structure of the data as well as the business intelligence tools used to work with those data

The 2015 SLDS Grant awarded Utah $6,497,783 for the purpose of enhancing the reporting and analysis capabilities of the UDA. This funding was used to pay for the various costs associated with the development of a data system, which include: travel costs, equipment costs, supplies costs, contractual costs, and indirect costs. The proposed outcomes to be produced using this funding include: [3]

  • College and Career Analysis
    • Inform education policy and practice by providing feedback to district and school leaders, on selected postsecondary education leaders, on selected workforce outcomes, and career and technical education leaders
    • Conduct career and technical education (CTE) research studies and student related to college readiness that can inform policy and practice
  • Evaluation and Research
    • Expand standardization of an ad-hoc research request process
    • Create an Institutional Review Board to manage requests for access to individual-level data in the UDADS
    • Enhance the structural and technical capabilities of the UDADS
    • Develop a web portal that expands access to researchers, stakeholders, and the general public
    • Develop professional development materials to support data use by end-users
    • Enhance access and training for current and expanded end-users
    • Enhance Training for UDA Researchers
[1] Information obtained from the 2007 Utah SLDS Grant Application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Utah2007.pdf
[2] Information obtained from the 2009 Utah ARRA SLDS Grant Application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Utah2009-ARRA.pdf
[3] Information obtained from the 2015 Utah SLDS Grant Abstract https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/UT_FY15_Abstract.pdf
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Research Accommodation

The UDA  requires all non-UDA partner agencies and researchers to submit a data request for access the data contained in the UDADS. Requestors that receive approval from the UDA must enter into a “Research Confidentiality and Use Agreement” with the SLDS manager and an authorized UDA partner representative. Researchers requesting individual level data must also submit the curriculum vitae of the principle investigator for the research and an institutional review board (IRB) letter of approval. Requests may be submitted at any time. Data requests will be reviewed within 60 days of receipt. Researchers with approved requests will receive a timeline from the UDA relating to data delivery and project milestones.[1]

This request must contain the following information:

  • Contact information
    • Name
    • Organization
    • Phone number
    • Email
  •  Purpose
    • Project title
    • Project description
    • Purpose of the project
    • Intended audience
    • Projection timeline
  • Project specific information
    • Relevant literature or studies
    • References used in project
    • Statistical software program needed
    • Type of analysis to be conducted
    • Methodological description
    • IRB Approval
[1] Information obtained from the Utah Data Alliance online site https://uepc.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0PAJ3VgNzlLtlcN
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Public User Portal

The public user portal is maintained by the UDA. The portal places data about Utah’s schools and labor force in a centralized location which is easy to access and use. It provides reports that have been created through use of the UDA and its SLDS partners. The quality of this portal will be evaluated using several different criteria which include: the user-friendliness of the portal, the extent of data 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.

UDA Public User Portal Evaluation:[1]

  • User-friendliness:
    • The portal is easily-accessible through the UDA online site. The UDA home page provides a comprehensive overview about the data system and the partnerships between participating agencies. Users are provided a clear overview of the sections contained in the portal and are provided step by step instructions on how to use the tools in these sections. 
  • Extent of data offered:
    • The portal provides reports about K-12, higher education and workforce outcomes for Utah students. Aggregate level reports are provided through excel downloads. These reports provide information regarding student attendance and graduation outcomes, areas of study, and level of education obtained. They also provide employment outcomes and average wage earnings for certain cohorts. In addition to the aggregate, the UDA provides pre-generated reports on a multitude of topics regarding student education and workforce outcomes.
  • Self-sufficiency of the portal:
    • The portal provides access to the reports that have been created through use of the data system. It also provides links to each of the participating agencies’ online sites that contain customizable information on specific groups of interest.
  • Extent of customizable reports that can be created through the portal:
    • The portal allow users to generate customizable reports about specific groups of interest. These groups must be part of the reported cohorts contained in the aggregate records excel download. These aggregate reports are only provided up to the 2010-2011 Utah public high school graduating class.
[1] Information obtained through analysis of the Utah Data Alliance public user portal http://www.utahdataalliance.org/
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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.

Utah 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

Utah has currently met 9 of the 10 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 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 5 – Provide timely, role-based access to data
  • 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

Utah has currently not met 1 of the 10 state actions:

  • State Action 9 – Implement policies and promote practices to build educators’ capacity to use data

Data Quality Campaign score: 9/10

[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 16 DQC score determined by the number of state action items met by a state http://2pido73em67o3eytaq1cp8au.wpengine.netdnacdn.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/03/DataForAction2014_0.pdf
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Contact

Jeremy D. Franklin
Interim Research Coordinator
Utah Education Policy Center
Phone: (801) 585-7787
Email: jeremy.franklin@utah.edu

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Schematic

This schematic is offered to provide a simplified, visual presentation of the UDA and the channels through which data flows into and out of the SLDS. The entities on the far left side of the schematic represent the data record providers to the UDA. The entities in the middle of the schematic represent the UDA and public user portal. The entities on the far right side of the schematic represent the parties intended to receive benefits from the outputs generated by the UDA.

Texas

 

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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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