Optimizing the Kentucky Longitudinal Data System to Inform Equity Issues in Education and Employment Barriers

On behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is requesting $3.25 million dollars over four years from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, for the project "Optimizing the Kentucky Longitudinal Data System to Inform Equity Issues in Education and Employment Barriers." This project builds upon the work achieved during the SLDS FY 15 grant to continuously improve dynamic reporting solutions for the feedback report series and to increase data use across the Commonwealth. This proposal addresses Priority 3, "Equity," and includes a request to participate in testing the proposed "School Level Poverty Measure" as mentioned in the Request for Applications. KDE will serve as the key partner and fiscal agent for the grant, but the majority of funding will support the Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), formerly called the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics (KCEWS). KYSTATS is a distinct entity housed within the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet tasked with the development, maintenance, and utilization of the Kentucky Longitudinal Data System (KLDS).

The KLDS is now capable of showing disaggregated trajectories for education and workforce outcomes in interactive feedback reports, allowing KYSTATS to begin to utilize education and workforce outcomes to explore equity issues and barriers to sustainable employment in Kentucky. The longitudinal depth and scope of the KLDS allows KYSTATS to explore these issues and barriers with sufficient statistical power to illuminate obstacles to education and employment for specific subpopulations, informing more nuanced strategic planning by stakeholders.

Thus, the proposed project has two primary goals: 1) utilizing the KLDS to illuminate equity issues in the education through workforce pipeline, and 2) targeting needs of stakeholders with return on investment measures for state, regional, and local strategic planning. The first goal will be addressed by geocoding addresses to inform school-level poverty measures and other socio-economic indicators and by incorporating the ability to explore outcomes by subpopulations, including but not limited to justice-involved, foster care, homeless, and socio-economic status indicators. Second, return on investment metrics will be incorporated into reports based on stakeholder feedback to enable state and local leaders to plan strategically about allocating funds to best address equity issues. A focus on comprehensive training and professional development will facilitate the use of these expanded reports to stakeholders with programmatic, policy, and advising responsibilities.

To accomplish this work, KYSTATS will partner with cross-cabinet agency partners, research centers and other stakeholders with content expertise on pressing equity issues from early childhood through the workforce. This collaboration will foster community level engagement, ensuring that critical metrics are created, the data deliverables are both accessible and usable, and strong buy-in for implementing training programs.