Infrastructure is the focus of Indiana's application for the 2019 Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Building on the SLDS foundation established through two prior rounds of SLDS grant funding, the next phase of Indiana's SLDS development focuses on expanding the access and use of the SLDS system for constituents across the P-20 ecosystem. This broader access will be supported by expanding the quantity, quality, and currency of the linked dataset as well as providing self-serve tools and business intelligence features to P-20 stakeholders.

Expanded access and use of Indiana's SLDS will be accomplished through a new interactive dashboards designed with input from constituent groups representing early childhood, K–12, higher education and the work force. Self-paced training and interpretation support will be developed so that dashboard users will be able to access and use the available data.

The partner agencies listed above contribute record level data to the SLDS through the coordinating and management of the Management Performance Hub (MPH), a new state agency established in 2017. These data elements are then linked, joining key education and workforce descriptors. Representatives from these data contributing agencies along with the MPH constitute the governing body for the Education and Workforce Data System (EWDS). This coalition of Indiana agencies is excited to pursue this work together to improve the quantity, quality, and currency and to make the data more useful and available—in short, this grant will help Indiana take its SLDS to the Next Level.

Project Goals:

1. Improve the quantity, quality, and currency of the data linked in Indiana's SLDS.
2. Expand access and use of Indiana's SLDS.

Major Activities:

1. Identify and secure additional data sets from existing partner agencies for inclusion in the SLDS.
2. Expand the use of IDOE's ED-ID to other state agencies.
3. Identify new partner agencies to contribute data for the expansion of the SLDS system.
4. Conduct focus groups with constituent groups representing various stakeholders to better understand their expectations for the proposed dashboards.
5. Design dashboards with aggregate data in response to focus group feedback.
6. Design new data analytics and visualization for public and secure dashboards.

Expected Outcomes of the Project:

• Outcome 1: Enhanced Education and Workforce Data Set
• Outcome 2: Next Level P-20 Data Dashboard (Public)
• Outcome 3: School & Classroom Dashboard (Secure)