Harnessing State Longitudinal Data Systems to Assess Career and Technical Education Outcomes

• In Event: Measures, Data, and Counterfactuals: Approaches to Improving Research in Career and Technical Education

Abstract

States are at varying stages in deploying statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS) that contain individual record-level data on public school students (Education Commission of the States, 2019). These data can be used to assess students’ progress and outcomes in and across education levels, with information encompassing their preschool, kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12), and postsecondary education experiences. Moreover, when student-level identifiers can be linked to national data clearinghouses and state unemployment insurance wage record systems, relationships can be established among students’ K–12 educational preparation, postsecondary enrollment, in-state labor market outcomes, and attainment of industry-recognized credentials, transforming SLDS into comprehensive, cross-sector P20/workforce data systems (P20W).
Career and technical educators have long understood the importance of connecting students’ in-school experiences with their post-program outcomes. Since passage of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998, states have assessed high school students’ performance on a set of core indicators specified in federal legislation. Statewide data are available for all students achieving a threshold level of career and technical education (CTE) coursework, with disaggregates for different student groups, dating back to 1999–2000. Although some states are working to incorporate CTE data into their SLDS, most maintain separate CTE databases to facilitate compliance with federal and/or state reporting requirements. Although these data are accessible by state agency personnel and often may be linked to information in their larger SLDS, they are largely invisible to those outside the state agency.
Unfortunately, transferring existing CTE data elements into states’ larger SLDS is not a simple task. Since states’ CTE data systems were not designed with SLDS in mind, linking records without adequate documentation and controls can create problems, particularly if state CTE agency data are not well documented, are stored in ways that prohibit longitudinal records from being readily constructed and extracted, or are not subjected to regular quality checks for accuracy and missing information. Consequently, until CTE elements are fully integrated into SLDS, education researchers will need to merge education data from multiple sources.
This paper examines the elements that are critical to conducting CTE research, as well as national data sources and clearinghouses that will need to be accessed, for a more complete picture of education and workforce development. CTE programs are primarily designed to support students in achieving a basic set of goals that include attainment of academic knowledge and technical skills, preparation for postsecondary education and careers, and transition into the workforce. This paper focuses on four categories of data elements suggested by these basic goals—student participation, student characteristics, student success, and student identification—and the specific data elements that should be included in an SLDS to allow for informed research. In addition, areas such as student privacy and data governance that require additional focus from SLDS administrators in order to improve the content and utility of SLDS are identified and discussed.

Authors

• Steve Klein, Education Northwest

• Jay Pfeiffer, Pfeiffer Pfarm Consulting