Wisconsin
The following profile is a representation of the Wisconsin 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 |
| . | |||
| Download State Profile | WISE Dashboard | WISE Website | NCES Funding: 2006 2009 2009-ARRA 2015 |
Introduction
The Wisconsin Information System for Education (WISE)[1] is Wisconsin’s public education state longitudinal data system (SLDS)[2] managed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WDPI)[3]. The WISE, created for the purpose of collecting and analyzing Wisconsin public education data at the individual, course, institution, and system levels, aggregates data records from the breadth of the Wisconsin public education systems. The combined 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 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.
Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin Information System for Education is managed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and provides data reports and analysis to answer key education policy issues within the state of Wisconsin
[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
[3] The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is the state agency that advances public education and libraries in the state of Wisconsin
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Evaluation Criteria
This review assesses the overall quality of the WISE 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 WISE and provides contact information to the departments and individuals who maintain and manage the WISE.
[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
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Governance and Maintenance
The WISE is managed under the oversight the Wisconsin LDS Executive Steering Committee, a committee whose primary responsibilities are to ensure the WISE remains aligned with the needs and priorities of educators and students in the state of Wisconsin and to provide strategic oversight to WISE project activities. The committee is composed of the following WDPI staff members[1]:
- Assistant Superintendent of Libraries, Technologies and Community Learning
- Executive Assistant to State Superintendent
- Chief Information Officer
- Director of Content & Learning
- Director of the Office of Educational Accountability
In 2009, this committee was charged with overseeing the creation of the WISE and ensuring that the data system met the needs of its various partners and stakeholders in the state of Wisconsin. The committee was also charged with guiding the continued development of the WISEdash website, the online dashboard for the WISE which provides resources and reports to partners, stakeholders, and all other interested parties within the state of Wisconsin. After these tasks was successfully completed, the committee was then charged with maintaining its oversight of the WISE and providing project report updates to the Wisconsin Data Management Steering Committee (WDMSC)[2].
The WDMSC is chaired by the State Superintendent’s Executive Assistant and is comprised of management representatives from each program area within the WDPI as well as the agency’s Budget Director. This committee reviews and establishes priorities for all IT projects undertaken by the WDPI and provides project report updates to the State Superintendent’s Cabinet, the highest level of agency management within the WDPI. The WDMSC is charged with supporting educational research and analysis initiatives to improve the state’s educational outcomes. The committee uses the reports and analysis provided by the Wisconsin LDS Executive Steering Committee to identify critical education policy issues and bring these issues to the attention of the State Superintendent’s Cabinet.
[1] Information provided by Wisconsin 2009 SLDS Grant Application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Wisconsin2009.pdf
[2] Information provided by WDPI’s Data Warehouse Implementation Project Charter http://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/wisedash/pdf/bi-charter.pdf
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Data Providers
The WISE receives data records from several key partners, including the WDPI, the University of Wisconsin System (UW-System)[1], the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS)[2], and the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU)[3]. The WDPI provides records through its P-12 longitudinal data system that gathers P-12 individual student level data pertaining to students in the state of Wisconsin. The P-12 data system serves as the foundational structure to the P-16 state longitudinal data system and assigns a unique student identifier number to every student in the state when enter the Wisconsin public education system. This unique student identifier number, termed the Wisconsin Student Number (WSN), remains with that student’s record throughout their attendance in Wisconsin public education. These unique student identifier numbers are generated and managed by the Wisconsin Student Locator System (WSLS).
The UW-System provides higher-education data records through its student-level data base, a data system that collects student information from all public higher-education institutions within the state of Wisconsin. WAICU provides higher-education data records through its WAICU Longitudinal Data System, a data system that collects student information from all private, nonprofit colleges and universities within the state of Wisconsin. WTCS provides post-secondary data records through its student-level data base, a data system that collects student information from all technical colleges within the state of Wisconsin. All education institutions that provide data records to these partners are required to report the student’s full name and WSN if that student attended an elementary or secondary public education institution in the state of Wisconsin. This is a necessary requirement to match the data records provided by each WISE partner and ensure data interoperability between the various data systems. This matching allows the WISE to gather individual student level data on students throughout their education process, creating a longitudinal system that can yield invaluable information to educators, policy makers, administrators, parents, students and other parties interested in the effects of education on the state of Wisconsin.
[1] The University of Wisconsin is one of the largest systems of public higher education in the country https://www.wisconsin.edu/
[2] The Wisconsin Technical College System consists of Wisconsin’s sixteen technical colleges which serve every community in Wisconsin http://www.wtcsystem.edu/colleges
[3] The Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities is the organization of the twenty-four independent or private institutions of higher learning in Wisconsin http://www.waicu.org/
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Funding
WDPI applied for federal funding through the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), an agency of the United States Department of Education, in 2009 and was awarded two grants, the 2009 SDLS Grant and the 2009 ARRA SLDS Grant, for the purpose of developing the WLDS. The 2009 SLDS Grant awarded Wisconsin $5,552,270 for the purpose of developing WISE, the P-12 data system portion of the WISE. 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[1]:
- Create a comprehensive education portal and data repository
- Develop student-level data collection for course data
- Develop student-level data collection for standardized testing data
- Build next generation analysis and reporting tools
The 2009 ARRA SLDS Grant awarded Wisconsin $13,809,040 for the purpose of expanding and promoting greater data interoperability between the data systems that provide data records to the WISE. This funding was used to pay for the various costs associated with expanding 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]:
- Accelerate data sharing and interoperability among state education agencies
- Transition to a web-based, integrated teacher licensing and data management system
- Develop a high quality data plan around early childhood educational programs
[1] Information provided by Wisconsin’s 2009 Grant Application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Wisconsin2009.pdf
[2] Information provided by Wisconsin’s 2009 ARRA Grant Application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Wisconsin2009-ARRA.pdf
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Research Accommodation
As the operating governance oversight of the WISE, the WDPI has the responsibility of granting interested parties access to the confidential data contained within the WISE. The WDPI asks that interested parties submit a data request form through their online website. The confidential data application process is designed to assist WDPI in reviewing data requests for purpose, scope and compliance with data privacy and confidentiality required by federal and state law. The data request must meet the following guidelines and requests[1]:
- Purpose: The WDPI is interested in research that utilizes the statewide longitudinal data system and other WDPI data sets to support research that will improve outcomes for students
- Proposal Receipt Deadline: Proposals may be submitted at any time and are reviewed as they are received
- Eligible Applicants: Proposals will only be accepted from research organizations that maintain an Institutional Review Board (IRB) registered with the Office for Human Research Protections at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Funding: Approval of an application does not commit the WDPI to pay costs related to a study. Depending on the proposed project, the applicant may be required to pay a fee for preparation and delivery of the data
- Proposal Content Requirements: Proposals will not be reviewed until WDPI receives a complete proposal submitted at the WISE website. Interested parties will also need to submit IRB approval for their proposed research. Prior to the research starting, interested parties will need to have a data use agreement (DUA) in place with WDPI. The interested parties will need to agree to the following as part of a data use agreement:
- Agree to and execute a Data Use Agreement (DUA) if the application is approved
- Provide and maintain accurate and complete responses on the application and promptly notify WDPI of any changes
- Maintain up to date data recipient information with WDPI and reflect any transition within fifteen days
- When a change is required to an existing DUA, promptly submit to WDPI the appropriate information for renewal, modification or extension
- Safeguard the integrity of the data received and comply with all applicable federal and state laws for protecting its privacy and security
- Ensure that WDPI breach notification and response procedures are followed in the event of potential or actual loss, theft, or compromise of data as outlined on the DUA
- Adhere to WDPI Pupil Data Policy Requirements
- Destroy all personally identifiable data connected to the DUA and submit the WDPI Data Destruction Certificate to WDPI as outlined in the DUA expiry process
- The Principle Investigator must agree to provide the WDPI with a copy of any material created for publication based on the data set prior to its public release.
[1] Information provided on the WDPI’s online site http://dpi.wi.gov/wise/data-requests/confidential-data-application
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Public User Portal
The WISE’s public user portal, WISEdash, is operated by the WDPI for the purpose of providing useful aggregate level data about various education issues to interest parties within the state of Wisconsin. These parties include administrators, educators, policy makers, parents, students and other parties interested in education outcomes within the state of Wisconsin. The quality of the WISEdash 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 created using the portal[1].
- User-friendliness:
- The WISEdash portal offers user-guide documents and how-to videos to help users successfully navigate the portal. These documents and videos instruct where specific information can be found within the portal and how to effectively use the analysis tools provided by the portal. WISEdash also provides an A to Z index of popular data topics in an effort to help users find information quickly and easily.
- Extent of data offered:
- The WISEdash portal provides direct access to each of the education categories, topics and sub topics listed in the directory home bar. These categories are listed below:
- Wisconsin Student Assessment System reports
- Other Assessment reports
- Attendance-Dropouts reports
- Enrollment reports
- Graduation reports
- Post-graduation reports
- Other Topics reports
- The majority of data reports contained within the WISEdash portal provide information about PK-12 students. The postsecondary data reports contained within the WISEdash portal only provide information on post-graduation enrollment rates of PK-12 students.
- The WISEdash portal provides direct access to each of the education categories, topics and sub topics listed in the directory home bar. These categories are listed below:
- Self-sufficiency of the WISE portal:
- The WISEdash portal provides direct access to each of the education category reports listed in the directory home bar. In addition to this information, the portal provides quick links to a number of state, region and national education reports that are relevant to the data contained within the WLDS.
- Extent of customizable reports that can be created using the WISEdash portal:
- The WISEdash portal allows interested parties to create customizable reports about the topics and subtopics listed on the directory home bar. These reports allow users to changes several input variables to specify the type of information they would like to access. Users can specify to what district, grade, and school they would like to examine in a graph, and compare graphs of different groups side by side. A help box is provided to the side of each report explaining what the graph is specifically measuring and what data was used to motivate the report.
[1] Link to the WISEdash portal: http://wisedash.dpi.wi.gov/Dashboard/portalHome.jsp
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Legal Statutes
The Wisconsin Senate enacted the State Statute 115.297, a statute formally establishing the state longitudinal data system project, effective 2009. The statute states that WISE partner agencies and institutions must meet the following requirements:
- Establish and maintain a longitudinal data system of student that links data from preschool programs to postsecondary education programs
- Describes the process by which the data system will be established and maintained
- Ensure the data system’s interoperability with the work force data systems maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development
The statute also describes other requirements for the partners, such as establishing an inter-agency data sharing agreement system, the required protocol that must be followed to ensure student privacy rights and when the partners must submit a joint report to the secretary of administration regarding their progress towards establishing the longitudinal data system[1].
[1] Information provided by Wisconsin State Legislature 115.297 http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/115/II/297/3/a
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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.
Wisconsin 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
Wisconsin has currently met 8 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 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
Data Quality Campaign score: 8/10
It should be noted that the Data Quality Campaign assessed each state’s progress towards completing the state actions in 2014. At this time, Wisconsin had 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 9 – Implement policies and promote practices to build educators’ capacity to use data
[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
Sean Cottrell
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Data Governance Coordinator
Email: sean.cottrell@dpi.wi.gov
Kurt Kiefer
Wisconsin Department of Public Education
Division for Libraries and Technology
Assistant State Superintendent
Phone: (608) 266-8770
Email: kurt.kiefer@dpi.wi.gov
Roslyn Wise
Wisconsin Department of Public Education
Division for Libraries and Technology
Executive Staff Assistant
Phone: (608) 266-6439
Email: roslyn.wise@dpi.wi.gov
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Schematic
This schematic is offered to provide a simplified, visual presentation of the WISE 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 WISE. The entities in the middle of the schematic represent the WISE data system 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 WISE.
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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.