Oregon school districts, like many other states, collect information about K-12 students and staff into electronic databases. Portions of these data are delivered to the state Department of Education in order to meet compliance requirements. Unfortunately, in most cases, that is the limit of the use of these data. Data are not aggregated, shared, analyzed or effectively used as a part of improving student achievement.

Fortunately, this situation is changing. School districts and regional Education Service Districts are beginning to make investments in regional data warehouses and starting to train teachers and administrators how to use data to inform instruction. The Oregon Legislature is making an $8.4 million investment in a project that facilitates compliance reporting and the movement of standardized student transcripts horizontally across the state. The Pre-Kindergarten thru Grade 16 Integrated Data System (KIDS) is an enterprise-level data warehouse with standardized business rules for transporting, securing, managing and using data. The project is currently in its pilot phase and is scheduled for full implementation by 2011.

The Oregon DATA Project (Direct Access to Achievement) is intended to add significant value to the foundation being built through the state’s ongoing investments in data quality. It will do so by strengthening the structure of the longitudinal data system that is growing already at the state level, and by providing stakeholders with comprehensive training and informed access to data.

Oregon has made noteworthy progress in its data initiatives, starting with an early investment in developing a unique secure student identifier (SSID) for every student in the school system and ending with the ongoing KIDS project. Along the way, other data-related projects such as the Integrated Data Transfer System (IDTS) have been aimed at improving data quality, access and transport.

The Oregon DATA Project will supplement and enhance these accomplishments in a way that is intensely focused on student achievement. The outcomes of the project will include a system of regional data warehouses containing highly aggregated local and state level data, coupled with professional development that will allow teachers and administrators to effectively engage in ad-hoc query and analysis of instructionally relevant student-level data from nearly anywhere in the state. The project is intended to continue beyond the limits of this grant to include ongoing data warehouse enhancements and continuing professional development for staff.

The project will be overseen by the Oregon Department of Education, and directed by the Education Enterprise Steering Committee, a highly collaborative work group comprised of representatives from ODE, the Oregon University System, Oregon community colleges, ESDs, K–12 education, and the Governor’s Office.

Oregon has the basic infrastructure, the collaborative environment, and the stakeholder support necessary to build a longitudinal data system that will inform and improve student learning. Various elements of this project are already under way. Grant support will allow the state to develop a strong professional development element to improve the quality of data; to expand the scope of the project to provide more comprehensive information at the K–12 student level; and to develop a higher level of operational efficiency that will result in reduced educational costs across the state.