Longitudinal Data System Projects

Project Information

The goal of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Data System Project is

To implement a statewide data warehouse and reporting solution, based on Data Quality Campaign standards, which meets federal requirements and drives longitudinal research and analysis to create a richer picture of individual student performance over time, thus enabling educator, school and district improvement.

The Wisconsin Longitudinal Data System Project is comprised of many initiatives, all geared to support educational research and analysis that improves educational outcomes. Each project has the opportunity to

Support agency efforts for Every Child a Graduate
Move towards meeting SFSF requirements for a Statewide Longitudinal Data system
Facilitate data-driven informed decision-making for school and district improvement
Assist educators looking to raise individual student achievement and close achievement gaps
Enable research that will inform and improve student learning
Enhance the quality of our LDS

More information about the projects for each initiative can be found below.

To fully capitalize on the investment of federal and state resources to develop a strong LDS, DPI and its key partners, the University of Wisconsin System (UW System), the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), and the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU) will transition from patchwork data sharing to an interoperable data system that safely and efficiently enables more informative research.

To view the vision detailed in the most recent LDS grant submission, visit the WI SLDS 2009 ARRA Grant page.

Initiative	Project	Status	Description
Data Warehouse & Reporting	WISEdash	Development & Testing	Driven by the lack of ability for DPI, districts, and schools to access the comprehensive set of data in the data warehouse, the Business Intelligence Tool Data Warehouse Implementation project recently gained momentum. The ability to turn data into information quickly and easily has become increasingly important to guide decisions at all levels of education is a top priority for DPI. As a result of this project, DPI will be able to create reports using the data to Better understand educational outcomes for Wisconsin students Inform decisions that can help ensure every child graduates from high school prepared for both college and career pathways For more information visit the Wisconsin's K12 Business Intelligence Solution page.
LDS Data Warehouse	LDS Data Loads	Ongoing	The goal of the LDS project is to integrate data from multiple data sources into one data warehouse using a common student identifier to enable student level and aggregated research, analysis, and reporting over time.
LDS Data Warehouse	Coursework Completion Data	Implemented & Available	In order to meet the requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and address existing gaps in the state LDS data sets, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) will build a new student level data collection and begin accumulating new data first quarter of 2011. The main objectives of this effort will be to address 2 key components referenced in ARRA as specified in the America COMPETES Act: the ability to match teachers with students and the ability to capture student-level transcript information, including courses completed and grade earned. For more information visit the Coursework Completion System (CWCS) web application page.
EC LDS	Early Childhood LDS Project	Analysis	This project will evaluate the current early childhood care and education data collections and make recommendations. The project will conduct a feasibility study and create a plan for eventual Early Childhood (birth through age 5) data linkages between the Department of Public Instruction, the Department of Health Services and the Department of Children and Families. The goal of the eventual data linkage effort is to broaden the base of shared information about pre-school children and to link that EC data to the existing K-12 LDS data, enhancing the Longitudinal picture. To view the vision detailed in the most recent LDS grant submission, visit the WI SLDS 2009 ARRA Grant page.
P20	Advanced Postsecondary Infrastructure Project	Design & Development	Leverage momentum to accelerate data sharing and interoperability among state education agencies
	Early Childhood LDS Project	Analysis	This project will evaluate the current early childhood care and education data collections and make recommendations. The project will conduct a feasibility study and create a plan for eventual Early Childhood (birth through age 5) data linkages between the Department of Public Instruction, the Department of Health Services and the Department of Children and Families. The goal of the eventual data linkage effort is to broaden the base of shared information about pre-school children and to link that EC data to the existing K-12 LDS data, enhancing the Longitudinal picture. To view the vision detailed in the most recent LDS grant submission, visit the WI SLDS 2009 ARRA Grant page.
	Postsecondary Enrollment Data & Reporting Project	Implemented & Available	The goal of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Data System’s Postsecondary Enrollment Data & Reporting project is to integrate postsecondary enrollment and completion data from the National Student Clearinghouse into the Longitudinal Data System data warehouse for research, analysis and reporting.
Measuring Student Academic Growth	Student Growth Percentile Reports	Student Growth Percentile Reports available to districts in May 2011 via the Secure Access File Exchange.	Student growth percentiles allow us to answer questions about student academic performance over time in relation to students with similar test score histories. Initial reports available in May 2011, are in PDF format. Beginning in 2012, a dashboard will allow users to explore student growth percentiles in a variety of ways.
Management of Secure LDS Applications	Application Security Manager (ASM)	Implemented & Available	An application for managing access to secure reporting applications and specific data or features within these applications. Replaces LDS Access Manager.
Management of Secure LDS Applications	LDS Access Manager (LDSAM)	Replaced by ASM	An application for managing access to secure LDS applications and specific data or features within these applications. Available January 2010 - April 2011
LDS Reporting	MDAT, SAFE, SDPR, WINSS	Implemented & Available	Applications which enable secured student-level reporting or public, redacted reporting to analyze data for decision-making. Please see Data Access, Analysis & Reporting Tools for more information on each reporting tool.

What drives us to do these projects?

Wisconsin SLDS 2009 Grant

Data Quality Campaign

National campaign to reduce duplication of effort and promote consensus on improving data quality, access, and use
Supports state efforts to improve the collection, data availability, reporting, and analysis of education data to raise student achievement
Provides tools & resources to help states with LDS implementation
Drives development of LDS data warehouses by defining 10 Essential Elements of an LDS

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)

State Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF)

All States, including Wisconsin, accepted SFSF monies

By accepting these funds, Wisconsin committed to completing the following tasks by September, 2011:

Continue development of a statewide longitudinal data system.

Continue with efforts to collect the data outlined in the 12 elements described in the America COMPETES Act and integrate the data into our LDS.

No.	Element
1	A unique statewide student identifier that does not permit a student to be individually identified by users of the system
2	Student-level enrollment, demographic, and program participation information
3	Student-level information about the points at which students exit, transfer in, transfer out, drop out, or complete P-16 education programs
4	The capacity to communicate with higher education data systems
5	A State data audit system assessing data quality, validity, and reliability
6	Yearly test records of individual students with respect to assessments under section 111(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 (b))
7	Information on students not tested by grade and subject
8	A teacher identifier system with the ability to match teachers to students
9	Student-level transcript information, including information on courses completed and grades earned
10	Student-level college readiness test scores
11	Information regarding the extent to which students transition successfully from secondary school to postsecondary education, including whether students enroll in remedial coursework
12	Other information determined necessary to address alignment and adequate preparation for success in postsecondary education

Create reports to make LDS data widely available, including reports on the following indicators:
- Number and percentage of students who graduate from high school who enroll in an institution of higher education (IHE) within 16 months of receiving a regular high school diploma.
- Number and percentage of students who graduate from high school who enroll in a public IHE in the State within 16 months of receiving a regular high school diploma, who complete at least one year’s worth of college credit (applicable to a degree) within two years of enrollment in the IHE.

How exactly do the Data Quality Campaign and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) relate?

Summary of ARRA and the SLDS

10 Essential Elements & the America COMPETES ACT 12 Elements

Wisconsin's P20 Initiative

What is the Wisconsin P20 initiative?
P20 is an initiative to expand the ability of the Wisconsin longitudinal data system to link between the P-20 education pipeline and across state agencies to enable data sharing and/or reporting for research and analysis.

The P20 initiative will involve a variety of phases and projects that may include analysis and development efforts around the following:

Integrating initial postsecondary enrollment and completion data into the LDS Data Warehouse
Building the capacity to communicate with the Wisconsin Institutions of Higher Education
Integrating postsecondary remedial coursework information into the LDS Data Warehouse as well as additional postsecondary enrollment and completion data
Developing useful reports to help educators, administrators, parents, and the public of Wisconsin better understand how elementary and secondary education of a K12 student translates into postsecondary readiness, enrollment and persistence.

Advanced Postsecondary Infrastructure Project

The informational needs of the Wisconsin education community are varied and complex. Our next set of research questions must inform education practices in an effort to prepare today’s students to compete in tomorrow’s world. In an attempt to meet the needs of the education community of Wisconsin, including teachers, administrators, policy makers, and researchers, we plan to develop a P20 system characterized by separate interoperable record systems, comprehensive data sets, maximum flexibility, and shared ownership. This planned P20 system will include a network of education databases, linked by key data components and necessary legal agreements that enable data exchange for the purpose of research aimed at improving the educational outcomes of Wisconsin students.

This project is funded and made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and specifically a State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) grant funded by the US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as the recognized grantee will maintain the primary responsibility for this grant and partner with the University of Wisconsin System, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the Wisconsin Technical College System as sub grantees.

For more information about the project please visit the P20 Advanced Postsecondary Infrastructure Project page.

Wisconsin's EC LDS Project

What is the Wisconsin EC LDS Project?

The current goal of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System Project is to complete a feasibility study and make recommendations for a future build of the EC LDS.

The project will first address the need to identify the multitude of programs and services within the State that serve children from the ages of birth through 5. After programs and services are identified, analysis will be completed to determine what data is currently collected, available, and transportable. This analysis will help determine the feasibility of linking data from the different programs and services together, and to the existing LDS, and identify existing data gaps. With this analysis complete, the project will then focus on establishing data sharing methodologies, creation of a viable work plan to begin the data sharing process and ensuring solid strategies are in place for data governance, long term system usage and sustainability.

Funding

This project is funded by a State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics with supplemental funding made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that is also supporting the creation, work and goals of the Wisconsin Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC).

The Role of the ECAC

The development of this type of comprehensive Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System (EC LDS) is supported by the WI Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) http://dcf.wi.gov/ecac/initiatives.htm
The Council’s charge is to assist in developing a more comprehensive and coordinated early childhood system that supports high quality early learning and development experiences.

Current Project Scope and Objectives

The initial focus will be on linking information from early childhood programs and services by using data housed in the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF), and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). In addition, the Project eventually foresees making links to programs and services with adult outcomes data, such as those found in the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (WI DWD) and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WI DOC).

The Project Objectives are as follows:

Analyze the current early childhood data environment.

Create an inventory of early childhood programs and services and data collection practices, including: data elements, method of collection, availability of data, data standards, and capacity for data sharing.
Identify alternative strategies for assigning a unique identifier to children in Wisconsin consistent with ECDC* guidance.
Identify alternative strategies for assigning a unique identifier to program sites within Wisconsin consistent with ECDC* guidance.
Identify alternative strategies for assigning a unique identifier to the early childhood workforce within Wisconsin consistent with ECDC* guidance.

Establish data sharing methodologies.

Build consensus around common data elements and data standards.
Determine potential system architecture.

Create a work plan to begin the data sharing and analysis process.

Identify opportunities to exchange data to meet the long term objectives of the ECDC* and work to establish a sequence of activities that best meet the priority needs of Wisconsin.
Determine how and when identified data elements can be added to the EC LDS.

Develop strategies for security, data governance, long term system usage and sustainability.

For more information about the project please visit Wisconsin’s EC LDS Project page.

*ECDC - The Early Childhood Data Collaborative, a consortium of national organizations working to help states build, link, and use early childhood data systems, has developed guidelines defining a well-crafted EC LDS.

Postsecondary Enrollment Data & Reporting Project

The goal of the Postsecondary Enrollment Data & Reporting Project is

To integrate postsecondary enrollment and completion data from the National Student Clearinghouse into the Longitudinal Data System data warehouse for research, analysis and reporting.

By enriching the Longitudinal Data System with postsecondary enrollment and completion information, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction will move towards meeting ARRA SFSF requirements as defined by the America COMPETES Act while supporting agency efforts for Every Child a Graduate. As this is a sub-project of our 2009 Longitudinal Data System Grant, DPI will also be completing work defined in the LDS II grant work plan.

Project Overview

Project Charter

National Student Clearinghouse FAQ

What is the National Student Clearinghouse?

College name, state, type
Enrollment begin and end date
Graduation date, degree title, major

How will DPI use National Student Clearinghouse Data?

Where do our high school graduates enroll in college?
When do they enroll in college?
How long do their education efforts persist?
Do they graduate from college?
What degrees do they earn?

Will Local Educational Agencies benefit from this National Student Clearinghouse relationship?

Postsecondary Data & Reporting: LEA Integration

National Student Clearinghouse

Measuring Student Academic Growth

What is the Measuring Student Academic Growth initiative?
Growth reports are one of many indicators that can be used to evaluate student academic achievement. Growth reports help educators, parents, and the public answer questions about student progress over time, and whether that progress is reasonable or appropriate.

Because they can provide a longitudinal view of student progress, academic growth measures add important information to traditional measures that give a snapshot of student achievement at a single point in time. The Department of Public Instruction has studied many different measures of growth and plans to provide student growth percentile reports directly to districts in a secure manner: first via PDF reports available through SAFE in May 2011, and eventually in an interactive online format offered by DPI’s business intelligence tool. Student growth percentile reports, while a useful measure of individual student growth over time, are but one measure. As such, DPI anticipates including additional measures of growth as part of the business intelligence tool in the future.

Student Growth Percentile Reports

The Student Growth Percentile (SGP) Reports project (the first project within the Measuring Student Academic Growth initiative) is a joint effort between the Office of Educational Accountability and the Longitudinal Data System Project.

Resources

The Measuring Academic Growth Overview powerPoint presentation provides an overview of the different ways to measure growth as well as specific information about the Student Growth Percentile Reports project.

The guides below are meant to provide assistance in reading and interpreting individual student and median growth percentile reports:

Sample Reports
- Student-level Growth Percentile
Narrated Report Walk-Throughs
- A narrated guide to reading SGP individual student reports
- A narrated guide to reading SGP median growth percentile reports
Explanation Documents
- A guide to reading SGP individual student reports
- A guide to reading SGP median growth percentile reports

Project Kickoff Presentation

Project Charter

For information about how to access your district’s student growth percentile reports in SAFE, visit the LDS Tools Page, or read the SAFE Quick Start Guide.

For more information about measuring student academic growth please visit the OEA Growth Homepage.

Management of Secure LDS Applications

Application Security Manager (ASM)

ASM is a tool that manages

Who can manage access to secure LDS applications (i.e., who else can use ASM)
Who has access to certain secure reporting applications
What a user can see/do within an application (roles)

Date	Accomplishment
May 17, 2011	General availability of ASM

Click ASM Information to find out more about the ASM tool.

Longitudinal Data System Access Manager (LDSAM)
Note: This tool has been replaced by ASM. LDSAM was available from January 2010 - April 2011.

Date	Accomplishment
May 2011	Access Manager replaced by Application Security Manager
March 2010	129 districts have access to Access Manager
February 2010	Second release of Access Manager-with usability enhancements-implemented successfully.
January 22, 2010	General availability of Access Manager; letter sent to all districts

LDS Reporting

Multi-Dimensional Analytic Tool (MDAT)

MDAT is the new, flexible, web-based tool that allows authorized users to

Create reports that compare achievement over time in relation to WKCE data
Select variables and filters to answer questions of their choice
Access specific data and variables based on their user role
Use charts and graphs to analyze school and student progress over time

Date	Accomplishment
March 2010	Enhanced version of MDAT released
March 2010	129 districts have access to MDAT
January 22, 2010	General availability of MDAT; letter sent to all districts

Click MDAT Information to find out more about the MDAT secured reporting tool.

View the knowledge base, or submit questions, comments, and suggestions about the Wisconsin Information System for Education (WISE) to the 24x7 DPI Online Helpdesk.
If you are having trouble accessing the tool or you need additional help, please view Helpdesk Information.

Last updated on 4/11/2012 11:48:07 AM

Wisconsin Longitudinal Data System (LDS)