Senate Select Committee Hearing on Student
Success
Longitudinal Data Systems
August 7th, 2018
California State Capitol, Room 2040
Staff Report

 California Lacks What Most States Have: A Longitudinal Data
System
California is one of the few states that lack a longitudinal data system
throughout its various educational institutions. Currently, 38 out of the
50 states maintain a longitudinal data system that records academic,
demographic, assessment-oriented, and programmatic information
that follows students from early education to postsecondary education
and often into the workforce.
Longitudinal data systems throughout the U.S. are valuable tools for
state education agencies to improve classroom instruction, statewide
assessment tests, and overall student achievement.
By streamlining the process of accumulating, analyzing and
distributing student data, longitudinal data systems allow states to
track student progress through pre-K, K-12, postsecondary education
and potentially into the workforce. Longitudinal data systems enable
states to:
 Craft policy decisions with data-driven educational ideas
 Improve educational outcomes, especially for disadvantaged
students
 Close achievement gaps
By aggregating data into a single system, longitudinal data systems
allow for better communication among different state education
bodies, such as the Department of Education, the University of
California system, the California State University system, and the
California Community College system.
Linking these databases to other state systems could raise numerous
important questions, such as:
 What percentage of a school district’s high-school graduates
enrolls in college within 8 months of graduation?
 What percentage of a high-school’s graduates need remediation
once they arrive at college?

  How are a student’s chances of successfully completing college
connected to his or her high-school courses, grades, and test
scores?
 Do students who attend a state-funded preschool have a better
chance of meeting state academic expectations in elementary
school?
 Are specific remediation programs
standardized test scores and grades?

effective

at

raising

 Are students of all ethnicities performing at the same level of
academic expectations in middle school?
 What college majors had the highest and lowest rates of
employment?
Previous Data Collecting Efforts in California
California has previously implemented educational data initiatives
similar to longitudinal data systems: CALTIDES (California Longitudinal
Teacher Integrated Data Education System), CALPADS (California Pupil
Achievement System), and CPEC (California Postsecondary Education
Commission).
CALTIDES and CPEC have since been defunded, but CALPADS remains
active and acts as an education data system that tracks demographic,
programmatic, academic, and disciplinary information on students in K12 public schools.
Data for CALPADS is submitted by Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) to
the California Department of Education to meet specific state and
federal reporting and other statutory requirements.
Preservation of this data in CALPADS also provides districts and schools
easy access to the data of newly transferred students, which helps
them place those students in suitable programs and provide necessary
educational services.
Key legislation to establish data collection included:
 SB 1453 (Chapter 1002, Statutes of 2002) which established
CALPADS;

  SB 1614 (Chapter 840, Statutes of 2006) which established the
California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System
(CALTIDES); and
 SB 1298 (Chapter 561, Statutes of 2008) which resulted in a
strategic plan to link the state’s education data systems into a
comprehensive system.
Legislation similar to SB 1224 (Glazer, 2018), which would have
required CSU, UC, Community Colleges, and the Department of
Education to create a plan to establish a longitudinal data collection
system:
 SB 885 (Simitian, 2011) would have authorized the CDE, UC, CSU,
Chancellor of the CCCs, the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing, the State Board of Education, the Employment
Development Department and the California School Information
Services to enter into a joint powers agreement to facilitate the
implementation of a comprehensive longitudinal P-20 statewide
data system, as well as the transfer of educational and workforce
data. SB 885 was vetoed by the Governor.
 AB 1837 (Low, 2016) would have established the Office of Higher
Education Performance and Accountability as the statewide
postsecondary coordination and planning entity; outlined its
responsibilities, functions and authorities; and established an
advisory board to the office. AB 1837 was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
 SB 42 (Liu, 2016) was nearly identical to AB 1837. SB 42 was
vetoed by the Governor.
 AB 1348 (John Pérez, 2014) would have established the California
Higher Education Authority, its governing board and its
responsibilities, including acting as a clearinghouse for
postsecondary education information and maintaining a
comprehensive database. AB 1348 was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.

  AB 2190 (John Pérez, 2012) would have established a state
oversight and coordinating body for higher education. AB 2190
was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
 SB 1138 (Liu, 2011) would have established a central data
management system for higher education. SB 1138 was held in
the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Until it was shuttered in 2011, CPEC, or California Postsecondary
Education Commission, was the primary body for collecting and
analyzing higher education data. First created in 1974, CPEC was
authorized to collect education data in 1999.
Among CPEC’s tasks were to:
 Provide information about student enrollment, educational
outcomes and other educational policy issues;
 Conduct long-range planning of the needs for new college or
university campuses in light of projected enrollment demand;
 Serve as the State's primary information clearinghouse for
postsecondary education;
 Develop policy recommendations regarding financial aid
programs for California students;
Since the $2 million budget for CPEC was cut in 2011, California has
lacked crucial information about students in the state’s public
universities.
CPEC and its data gathering mission, however, remains in statute. With
funding, CPEC could be reestablished.
Gaps Existed When CPEC and CALPADS Were Collecting Data
Even when data were being collected by CALPADS and CPEC, however,
there was no connectivity between the two systems. Nor was there
linkage to employment agencies.
A critical question that continues to go unanswered: What happens to
California students after they’ve graduated from high school? How did
their primary education serve them at the post-secondary level?

 Taking it a further step, a longitudinal data system can track our
college graduates into the workforce. How did our college graduates
do? How valuable are the degrees we confer on our college students?
A longitudinal data system would provide connectivity on a continuum
that allows us as policy makers to analyze what we are doing right and
what we are doing wrong in educating our children.
What Should Our Data Gathering Mission Be?
Maintaining a longitudinal data system means more than just
maintaining a data system through K-12 education. California’s existing
system does not provide all of the data needed to answer some
fundamental questions about the entire academic performance of the
state’s students.
As we explore a new data system, the key question is how we create a
system where a student is tracked all the way through with the same
number. Who should do that work?
Should policy makers build on the existing CPEC, which remains in
statute, to collect, analyze and link pre-k, k-12, higher education and
into employment? Or should they create a new agency for a full range
of data that can drive public policy?
Accurate, accessible information is important for any institution that
wants to improve its outcomes. If the Legislature and incoming
administration do pursue implementation of a longitudinal data
system, there will continue to be significant challenges, from balancing
the long-term costs to maintaining data privacy and security to
explaining the long-term benefits of expanding these databases.
Collecting and securely maintaining data can be a challenge, but it also
can yield many benefits that have the potential to impact the
education of California’s students in a positive way for many future
generations.