Early in my career at the New York City Department of Education, I set out to answer a big question: What happens to students after they leave high school? The data existed. But it took time, persistence, and leadership to make the case for bringing that data together across sectors. That experience taught me something I still believe: the hardest part of cross-agency data work isn’t linking and matching records. It’s leadership.
States are making high-stakes decisions about how to improve student achievement, prepare their workforce for a changing economy, and direct public dollars where they deliver the strongest results. Getting those decisions right requires P–20W data—early childhood, K–12, postsecondary, and workforce information—and a leader at the decisionmaking table who has the unique job of bringing that cross-sector data together through a statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) to support progress toward state goals.
Dedicated people work in every state to connect data. But not every state has invested authority and trust in a single leader to drive its education and workforce data work. Where this P–20W state data leader role exists, it is the result of deliberate policy choices: passing cross-agency data governance laws, creating governing boards, establishing managing entities, and committing to sustainable funding. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has championed these policies because we know they are the only evidence-based strategies that ensure states develop SLDSs, govern them transparently, and sustain them through political transitions and policymaker turnover.
The result is a new kind of public leader, often based in the governor’s office or another cabinet office, who is charged with ensuring the SLDS enables people to answer questions that no single agency can answer alone: Which early learning programs prepare children to read on grade level by third grade? Which pathways lead students to postsecondary credentials and jobs that pay family-sustaining wages? As Workforce Pell opens new doors to short-term programs, which credentials help adults move into better-paying careers?
The job of a P–20W state data leader requires policy savvy and expertise outside of the traditional IT and data management domains. These leaders guide decisions across agencies, interpret shifting federal and state policy, piece together funding from multiple sources, protect the privacy of millions of records, and often staff governing boards composed of state policymakers. As these leaders make sure the SLDS is aligned with and governed by state priorities, they need support tailored to their unique P–20W role.
High quality technical assistance providers and resources exist, but at DQC we hear time and again that P–20W state data leaders struggle to navigate a patchwork of providers that are often siloed by sector and do not quite fit their unique needs. When leaders need answers, they come to us for guidance.
That is why DQC created the State Data Leaders Network (SDLN), the nation’s only network that brings together P–20W state data leaders. This summer, the network wrapped its pilot year with leaders from 17 states and support from multiple funders. SDLN members include leaders of long-established systems like the Kentucky Center for Statistics, as well as systems in newer states to this space like California and Colorado. All leaders have a clear mandate from their state to ensure their SLDS can help people answer questions with data.
DQC is best positioned to lead this work because the SDLN has to sit where these leaders sit: at the intersection of policy and implementation. DQC has worked at that intersection for over 20 years. Like these leaders, we work across the full P–20W continuum and are nonpartisan, policy agnostic, and grounded in evidence. We helped states make the case for these systems and put the policies in place to sustain them. Supporting the people who now lead them is the natural next step.
The SDLN supports leaders in three ways:
- Connect. These leaders’ peers are in other states. The SDLN brings them together to trade lessons, test ideas, and build relationships strong enough to pick up the phone when a new challenge arrives. A leader who can learn from a peer who has already solved a problem does not have to start from scratch.
- Curate. Leaders receive a steady stream of guidance, research, and tools from every sector. DQC draws on our two decades of experience to surface what matters most so leaders can focus on what their states need.
- Coordinate. We coordinate with technical assistance partners, funders, and national organizations so that leaders can access the right support for emerging issues in their states—and we bring leaders’ voices into national conversations.
One year in, the case for this network is clear: these leaders need and deserve support for the job they actually hold. Year two will bring challenges and opportunities for leaders that will make this network even more essential.
Next week, 36 states will elect a governor, and many new administrations will want to know which investments are paying off. Budgets are tight. Workforce Pell brings new demands for data on short-term program outcomes. And leaders are navigating decisions about how, if at all, artificial intelligence affects their goals. In each case, state data leaders will be expected to ensure decisionmakers can answer questions and make decisions with data.
This post is the first in a series about the SDLN: the network’s impact on states, how the network is evolving, and what we at DQC are learning from the leaders in it. We are proud to support them. Want to know more? Stay tuned for the next installment in this series from Kate Akers, DQC’s Vice President, Policy Implementation and Best Practices.
