Current Projects

The Forum convenes working groups to produce resources that are:

  1. related to education data standards, quality, collection, use, reporting, or management;
  2. useful to a large audience within the education data community (often staff in schools, school districts, and state education agencies);
  3. consistent with the Forum mission; and
  4. not currently available from other organizations.

Working groups are comprised of Forum members, representatives of collaborating organizations (when, for example, a topic overlaps with another organization's area of expertise), Federal staff, and other experts. To ensure that working group products meet the high quality standards of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the National Forum on Education Statistics, working groups are expected to share progress reports and review drafts throughout the development process so that Forum members have an opportunity to review, offer feedback and, ultimately, approve all Forum resources prior to publication. Upon final publication of a document, the working group is disbanded and assigned status as a "completed project."


Working Groups

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education Working Group: The working group is developing a new resource that will help education agencies understand how AI works, recognize current and potential uses of AI in education, and consider key issues for its application. This new resource will provide a foundational introduction to AI in education, with the goal of helping education agency staff develop the capacity to use AI responsibly.


College and Career Readiness (CCR) Data Working Group: The working group is developing a new resource that will help education agencies effectively collect, integrate, report, and use CCR data. The new guide will reflect developments in CCR data systems, requirements, and uses, and provide real-world examples from districts and states that have implemented successful CCR data practices.


Data Literacy Working Group: The working group is developing a new resource that will help education agencies promote data literacy among agency staff and stakeholders such as parents, community members, students, and others. This new resource will discuss how data literacy needs vary among stakeholders, identify the best practices that agencies are using to assist different audiences with understanding education data, and describe considerations for each audience to engage with data more fully.


Educator Workforce Data Working Group: The working group is developing a new resource that will help education agencies identify the types of workforce data that are most useful for understanding immediate teacher shortages and monitoring educator supply and demand, as well as best practices for using these data. This new resource will describe how state and local education agencies (SEAs and LEAs) communicate about educator shortages, discuss lessons learned in addressing workforce data-related challenges, and provide case studies from districts and states that have implemented successful data practices.


School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED) Working Group: The working group is developing SCED Version 12, which will include new and updated courses based on recommendations from SCED users. The group also is updating SCED tools and resources, including the SCED Finder and the Master List.


Student Learning Data During Pandemic School Closures and Beyond Working Group: The working group is developing a new resource focused on how agencies are approaching the effect of school closures and adjusted learning models on student learning. This new resource will highlight the ways local and state education agencies (LEAs and SEAs) are investigating student learning trends during and following school shutdowns, and their plans to use data to create a road to recovery for students and schools.


Student Mobility Data Working Group: The working group is developing a new resource to provide best practices that will help SEAs and LEAs manage data related to students who frequently change schools, with a focus on ensuring that data are transferred in a timely manner to minimize student learning disruptions and enable the provision of supports.


Technology for Teaching and Learning Working Group: The working group is developing a new resource that will help education agencies appropriately select, responsibly manage, and effectively support the use of educational technology. The new resource will be a companion publication to the 2019 Forum Guide to Technology Management in Education and specifically focus on the policies, processes, and best practices involved in the planning, selection, implementation, management, and support of educational technology.