Forum Guide to Cybersecurity: Safeguarding Your Data

Related Resources

Relevant National Forum on Education Statistics Resources

Forum Guide to Data Governance (2020)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2020083.asp

This resource provides timely and useful best practices, examples, and resources for agencies implementing or updating their data governance programs. It provides an overview of data governance; discusses effective data governance practices, structures, and essential elements; describes how to meet privacy and security requirements while also meeting data accessibility and sharing needs; and includes detailed case studies from education agencies in their data governance efforts.

Forum Guide to Education Data Privacy (2016)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2016096.asp

This resource provides SEAs and LEAs with best practice information to use in assisting school staff in protecting the confidentiality of student data in instructional and administrative practices. SEAs and LEAs may also find the guide useful in developing privacy programs and related professional development programs.

Forum Guide to Planning for, Collecting, and Managing Data About Students Displaced by a Crisis (2019)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2019163.asp

This resource provides timely and useful best practice information for collecting and managing data about students who have enrolled in another school or district because of a crisis. It highlights best practices that education agencies can adopt before, during, and after a crisis and features contributions from agencies that have either experienced a crisis or received students who were displaced by a crisis.

Forum Guide to Technology Management in Education (2019)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/tech_management.asp

This resource is designed to assist education agency staff with understanding and applying best practices for selecting and implementing technology to support teaching and learning in the classroom. It addresses the widespread use and integration of technology in modern education systems and focuses on technology governance and planning, technology implementation, integration, maintenance, support, training, privacy, security, and evaluation.

Other National Forum on Education Statistics Resources

Forum Curriculum for Improving Education Data: A Resource for Local Education Agencies (2007)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2007808.asp

This curriculum supports efforts to improve the quality of education data by serving as training materials for K-12 school and district staff. It provides lesson plans, instructional handouts, and related resources, and presents concepts necessary to help schools develop a culture for improving data quality.

Forum Guide to Alternative Measures of Socioeconomic Status in Education Data Systems (2015)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2015158.asp

This resource provides “encyclopedia-type” entries for eight plausible alternative measures of socioeconomic status (SES) and, as such, will help readers better understand the implications of collecting and interpreting a range of SES-related data in education agencies.

Forum Guide to Building a Culture of Quality Data: A School & District Resource (2004)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2005801.asp

This resource was developed to help schools and school districts improve the quality of data they collect and to provide processes for developing a “Culture of Quality Data” by focusing on data entry—getting things right at the source. This resource shows how quality data can be achieved in a school or district through the collaborative efforts of all staff.

Forum Guide to Collecting and Using Attendance Data (2018)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2017007.asp

This resource is designed to help state and local education agency staff (SEA and LEA) improve their attendance data practices. It offers best practice suggestions and real-life examples, a set of voluntary attendance codes, and tip sheets for a wide range of education agency staff who work with attendance data.

Forum Guide to Collecting and Using Disaggregated Data on Racial/Ethnic Subgroups (2016)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2017017.asp

This resource is intended to identify some of the overarching benefits and challenges involved in data disaggregation; recommend appropriate practices for disaggregating racial/ethnic data in districts and states; and describe real-world examples of large and small education agencies disaggregating racial/ethnic data successfully.

Forum Guide to College and Career Ready Data (2015)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2015157.asp

This resource outlines the data needs and helpful analytics for five use cases (individual learning plans, educator support systems, postsecondary feedback loops, accountability systems, and career technical and education programs) that support SEA and LEA college and career-ready initiatives.

Forum Guide to Core Finance Data Elements (2007)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2007801.asp

This resource provides an overview of key finance data terms. It also covers the two National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) public school finance surveys: the state-level National Public Education Financial Survey and the School District Finance Survey (or F-33).

Forum Guide to Crime, Violence, and Discipline Incident Data (2011)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2011806.asp

This resource focuses on the use of crime, violence, and discipline data to improve school safety. It presents strategies for implementing an incident database; recommends a body of data elements, definitions, and code lists useful for collecting accurate and comparable data; and offers suggestions for the effective presentation and reporting of data.

Forum Guide to Data Ethics (2010)

http://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2010801.asp

While laws set the legal parameters that govern data use, ethics establish fundamental principles of “right and wrong” that are critical to the appropriate management and use of education data in the technology age. This guide reflects the experience and judgment of seasoned data managers; while there is no mandate to follow these principles, it is hoped that the contents will prove a useful reference to others in their work.

Forum Guide to Data Visualization: A Resource for Education Agencies (2016)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2017016.asp

This resource recommends data visualization practices that will help education agencies communicate data meaning in visual formats that are accessible, accurate, and actionable for a wide range of education stakeholders. Although this resource is designed for staff in education agencies, many of the visualization principles apply to other fields as well.

Forum Guide to Decision Support Systems: A Resource for Educators (2006)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2006807.asp

This resource was developed to remedy the lack of reliable, objective information available to the education community about decision support systems. It is intended to help readers better understand what decision support systems are, how they are configured, how they operate, and how they might be developed and implemented in an education setting.

Forum Guide to Education Indicators (2005)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2005802.asp

This resource provides encyclopedia-type entries for 44 commonly used education indicators. Each indicator entry contains a definition, recommended uses, usage caveats and cautions, related policy questions, data element components, a formula, commonly reported subgroups, and display suggestions.

Forum Guide to Elementary/Secondary Virtual Education Data (2016)

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006803.pdf

This resource provides information on the impact of virtual education on established data elements and methods of data collection and addresses the scope of changes, the rapid pace of new technology development, and the proliferation of resources in virtual education.

Forum Guide to Ensuring Equal Access to Education Websites (2011)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2011807.asp

This resource guides education institutions in improving the accessibility of websites and other electronic information technology, and in complying with accessibility standards and laws. It is intended to raise awareness in nontechnical audiences and suggest best practices for complying with Section 508 goals at an operational level in schools, school districts, and SEAs.

Forum Guide to Exit Codes (2020)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2020132.asp

This resource provides best practice information for tracking data about when students exit an education agency. It defines exit codes and reviews their use in an education agency; provides a voluntary, common taxonomy for exit codes; discusses best practices and methods for exit codes data collection; and features case studies that highlight different education agencies’ approaches to and experiences with exit coding.

Forum Guide to Facility Information Management: A Resource for State and Local Education Agencies (2018)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2018156.asp

This resource is designed to help SEAs and LEAs plan, design, build, use, and improve their facility information systems. It includes a review of why school facilities data matter and recommends a five-step process that an education agency can undertake to develop a robust facility information system around goals, objectives, and indicators.

Forum Guide to Metadata: The Meaning Behind Education Data (2009)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2009805.asp

This resource offers best practice concepts, definitions, implementation strategies, and templates/tools for an audience of data, technology, and program staff in SEAs and LEAs. It is hoped that this resource will improve this audience’s awareness and understanding of metadata and, subsequently, the quality of the data in the systems they maintain.

Forum Guide to Personalized Learning Data (2019)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2019160.asp

This resource will help education agencies as they consider whether and how to expand their use of personalized learning. It includes an overview of the topic, best practices on collecting and using data for personalized learning, and case studies from districts and states that have implemented personalized learning.

Forum Guide to School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED) Classification System (2014)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2014802.asp

SCED is a voluntary, common classification system for prior-to-secondary and secondary school courses. This resource includes an overview of the SCED structure and descriptions of the SCED Framework elements, recommended attributes, and information for new and existing users on best practices for implementing and expanding their use of SCED.

Forum Guide to Supporting Data Access for Researchers: A Local Education Agency Perspective (2014)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2014801.asp

This resource recommends a set of core practices, operations, and templates that can be adopted and adapted by LEAs as they consider how to respond to requests for both new and existing data about the education enterprise.

Forum Guide to Supporting Data Access for Researchers: A State Education Agency Perspective (2012)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2012809.asp

This resource recommends a set of core practices, operations, and templates that can be adopted and adapted by SEAs as they consider how to respond to requests for data about the education enterprise, including data maintained in longitudinal data systems.

Forum Guide to Taking Action with Education Data (2013)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2013801.asp

This resource provides practical information about the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to identify, access, interpret, and use data to improve instruction in classrooms and the operation of schools, LEAs, and SEAs.

Forum Guide to the Teacher-Student Data Link: A Technical Implementation Resource (2013)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2013802.asp

This resource is intended as a guide to the skillful and appropriate use of education data. It introduces the teacher-student data link (TSDL) and provides information on TSDL components, use cases, and strategies for overcoming implementation challenges.

Managing an Identity Crisis: Forum Guide to Implementing New Federal Race and Ethnicity Categories (2008)

https://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2008802.asp

This best-practice resource was developed to assist SEAs and LEAs in their implementation of the new federal race and ethnicity categories—thereby reducing redundant efforts within and across states, improving data comparability, and minimizing reporting burden. It serves as a toolkit from which users may select and adopt strategies that will help them quickly begin the process of implementation in their agencies.

Traveling Through Time: The Forum Guide to Longitudinal Data Systems (Series)

Book I: What is an LDS? (2010) http://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2010805.asp

Book II: Planning and Developing an LDS (2011) http://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2011804.asp

Book III: Effectively Managing LDS Data (2011) http://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2011805.asp

Book IV: Advanced LDS Usage (2011) http://nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2011802.asp

The Traveling Through Time series is intended to help SEAs and LEAs meet the many challenges involved in developing robust systems, populating them with quality data, and using this new information to improve the education system. The series introduces important topics, offers best practices, and directs the reader to additional resources related to longitudinal data system (LDS) planning, development, management, and use.