Barriers, Incentives and Lessons in Establishing P–20/Labor Systems

Coordinating labor and higher education is of growing importance throughout the nation. During this session, each of the panelists shared the benefits gained when partnering with their state education agencies, the experiences each have had and barriers they have worked through. The panel also discussed how each state has worked with common identifiers, worked within their respective legislative constraints, and how they are using the data to benefit education.

Moderator:
Nancy J. Smith, Data Quality Campaign

As Deputy Director of the Data Quality Campaign, Dr. Smith oversees the operations of the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) at the National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA), including research, newsletters, publications and the annual survey of state data systems. Dr. Smith's expertise is in statewide longitudinal data systems and program evaluation.

Previously at NCEA, Dr. Smith was responsible for research and development activities for the Just for the Kids (JFTK) school reports and served as the director of programming and technology at JFTK/NCEA. Prior to NCEA, Dr. Smith was employed at the Texas Education Agency in the Research and Evaluation Division and the Accountability and School Accreditation Division. She also conducted extensive program evaluation projects and participated in large-scale changes to the management information system at the Texas Department of Human Services.

She also serves on the National Forum for Education Statistics Longitudinal Data System Task Force, the CCSSO EIMAC Longitudinal Student Data Systems Task Force, the NAEP High School Transcript Study Technical Panel and the USED Institute of Education Science Statewide Longitudinal Data System Review Panel. She received her doctorate in Educational Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin in 1997 with an emphasis in Statistics, Psychometrics, and Program Evaluation.

Panelists:
Deb Came, Washington State Education Research and Data Center

Dr. Came is a senior analyst with the State of Washington's Education Research and Data Center (ERDC) in the Office of Financial Management. She has worked for the State of Washington for ten years as a policy analyst for the WorkFirst program and more recently with ERDC. She has experience working with issues and data spanning K-12, higher education, welfare programs, and the workforce. She has a B.A. from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington.

Andre Smith, Florida Department of Education

Mr. Smith serves as the director of Florida's PK20 Education Data Warehouse that provides strategic current and historical data on students' academic and placement outcomes to stakeholders that include administrators, educators, legislators, researchers, community colleges, universities, professional organizations, and others. Mr. Smith has also served as the Director of Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP), a centralized consumers' reporting system that collects and reports outcome data on Florida's K-20 students. Mr. Smith has a BS degree in Management Information System and a MS in Educational Leader/Administration from Florida State University. He is also an Oracle Certified Professional Database Administrator.

Neal Gibson, Arkansas Department of Education

Mr. Gibson is the Project Manager for the Arkansas Longitudinal Data System. He is responsible for the coordination of efforts around Arkansas' longitudinal data system, which was funded by the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES). It is a P-20 system which Arkansas is expanding to include workforce data as well. Mr. Gibson is also responsible for data quality initiatives and outreach to researchers who may be interested in exploring the data they have available.