Sustaining SLDS for Long-Term Education and Workforce Attainment

On behalf of the State of Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) is applying for $3,205,897 from the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) through the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant. Through our project "Sustaining SLDS for Long-Term Education and Workforce Attainment", we have statewide goals driven by the Governor's Office and the Legislature to increase postsecondary degrees or credentials to 67% by 2025 and increasing it to 82% by 2040. Without prior grant funding, our State developed the underpinnings for a SLDS, including a collaborative governance structure across WDE, University of Wyoming, Department of Workforce Services (DWS), and all public community colleges in Wyoming.

The State is requesting Grant funds under the Infrastructure Priority. WDE is the State Education Agency applying for Grant funds and will serve as the fiscal agent. The Grant is a multi-agency and institutional Governance Structure with Wyoming's Community College Commission (the Commission) which manages the SLDS infrastructure, project management office, and other initiative needs per recent legislation. The Commission will be responsible for the direction and implementation of Grant funds, working across a broad range of stakeholders. The State of Wyoming is an ideal state to demonstrate progress towards effective longitudinal interoperability to positively influence educational and workforce outcomes. Our State has strong momentum for a sustainable longitudinal system, including public and private support. The SLDS Grant aligns with broad-sweeping stakeholder initiatives, including the Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming (ENDOW). ENDOW and other statutory mandates require an accountability system, enhanced cross-agency reporting, and greater workforce readiness.

Wyoming is requesting short-term funding to fine-tune a reusable framework for expansive SLDS adoption. These requested State resources, contracted professional services, and tools will support the following primary goals: 1) onboard new stakeholders; 2) implement commercial off the shelf (COTS) tools for enhanced architecture; 3) improve data models for more robust reporting; 4) coach and train staff for SLDS reporting and sustainability; 4) expand governance for growing research and policy requests; 5) strengthen data quality and standards; 6) conducting outreach to support growth; and 7) establishing long-term sustainability. We also plan to utilize technical assistance in close collaboration with SLDS Technical Assistance Staff so that we are effective throughout Grant efforts.

Through these goals we believe long-term outcomes include use of predictive analytics linking Pre-k through 12 education, postsecondary education, and workforce data to inform policy and program decision-making across the State. We also plan for alignment and integration with child welfare data to assess at-risk populations and how early interventions and programs affect outcomes. As one of three states that has not received funding to date, we developed the underlying structure and system to integrate SLDS data, including an Identity Management solution for linking individuals. Grant support provides the needed funds to support scalability towards a true P-20W system, linking child welfare data with the current data sets.