2025 has been tumultuous so far, to say the least. In education alone, we’ve seen millions in cancelled contracts, mass federal layoffs, and steps toward dismantling the US Department of Education (ED). It’s clear that our national education data and research infrastructure is at risk in a way it hasn’t been since it was founded more than 150 years ago.
Rightfully, state leaders, advocates, researchers, and philanthropy are all looking for answers. How will we know what’s working for students and educators? Which states and districts are doing it best? How can we learn from those examples and scale what works across schools, districts, and states? Without comparable data across states and a funded research arm, these answers will be insufficient at best and elude us entirely at worst.
Short of undoing recent federal education actions and reestablishing these essential functions at ED, there is no simple solution, especially when it comes to having and using comparable data from across states. And while the natural response to the possible loss of this federal-level research is to try to rebuild it, it’s important to focus on ensuring that people understand what they’re losing in the first place.
DQC has spent 20 years advocating for and supporting states to build not just the data infrastructure but also the human capacity, political will, and public demand for information. Our sense of urgency has been paired with a measured intentionality and a laser-like focus on states as the primary drivers and innovators of information. We’ve stated that federal policy drivers like No Child Left Behind and the Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) grant program were critical for getting states to prioritize state data systems two decades ago—but in 2025, our state data landscape is robust and well integrated into how states support their education and workforce efforts. We know that federal policy matters but states are where the real action is. And we’re not about to change that approach. In fact, we believe it’s time to double down on state policy and technical assistance efforts.
Here’s how we’ll do it:
- Work with the Data Champions Collaborative (DCC) to continue advocating for federal-level solutions and generate policy-oriented goals for state data systems. For three years, DQC has convened and communicated regularly with the DCC, a group of more than 40 national partners that are uniquely positioned to lead a nationwide conversation about how federal levers can support state data use. These organizations came together to inform DQC’s vision for data access, which provides a roadmap for states to modernize their data systems to ensure that individuals, the public, and policymakers all have access to data that enables education and workforce decisionmaking. We will continue to collaborate with these influential organizations to communicate the value of state data systems and elevate the critical role that federal data (e.g., NCES) plays in support of state action.
- Leverage our brand new State Data Leaders Network to listen to state leaders, support them with technical assistance, and connect them directly to DCC policy partners to ensure that information services continue to meet demand and align with policy goals. As DQC launches this network, we are well positioned to ensure state leaders have the guidance and partnership they need to continue building data systems that serve people.
- Bring together our decade-old privacy leaders advisory group to share, collaborate, and learn. As we enter this new world where data systems at state and local levels are more important than ever, we must keep focus on data privacy and security, especially as actions raise privacy questions at the federal level.
- Work through the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on the American Workforce to ensure that state data systems are front and center to any federal policy solution. DQC’s vision for data access and federal policy recommendations that lay out how federal efforts can both ease and expedite state efforts to improve their statewide longitudinal data systems will guide our work.
For 20 years, DQC has supported leaders and advocates from across the field as they do the hard work of ensuring robust, timely access to data that enables people to make education and workforce decisions. As the field navigates how to move forward without federal-level research and a lack of comparable data across states, DQC remains committed to working across states to support these efforts. We’re ready, we’re moving forward, and we’re here to help make data work for people.
