K-12
- Demographics
- School
- District
- Attendance/Dropout
- Grades/GPA
- Courses
- Test scores
- ACT/SAT
- Disciplinary action
- Teacher info (salaries, etc.)
Higher Education
- Demographics
- Type of college
- Enrollment
- Courses
- Major
- Grades
- Tuition/Scholarships
Workforce
- Demographics
- Salary
- Industry
Link: https://www.alsde.edu/dept/data/Pages/home.aspx
Date Inventory Completed: 5/26/15
Screening
- Is there data available for 2013?
- Can we access the data by August 15th? Unknown - need to submit a request.
Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? NO
Explanation: Unknown if student-level data will be available by August 15th. The data does i ncludes some records of where high school students go to college and what they are intending to study, however, the data is currently not linked to additional higher education or workforce data.
Full Inventory
Purpose
- What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?
The purpose of the data provided by the Alabama State Department of Education is to improve Alabama’s strategic plan for improving education statewide (Plan 2020).
- Who else uses the data? (make a note if they sell the data to companies)
Educators, policy makers, teachers, parents, school districts, and anyone interested in official data from the ALSDE.
Description
- What is the general topic of the data?
- K-12 Student Information
- Higher Education Student Information
- Workforce Information
- Longitudinal Education Information (includes K-12, Higher Ed, and/or Workforce)
- What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?
2001-2014
- How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided?
School district staff is responsible to enter student information every day to SIS. Then “several times a year”, the districts report their data to ALSDE.
Method
- What is the data collection method (portal, other)?
School district staff enters student information into their local student information system (SIS). This data is then securely stored and processed by ALSDE.
- What is the raw source of the collected data (teacher, superintendent)?
School district staff
Selectivity (conversely, the representativeness)
- What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?
All K-12 students in the public school system in Alabama. Also includes some records of where these students go to college and what they are intending to study.
Stability/Coherence
- Note any changes to the universe of data being captured (e.g., including private schools).
Unknown
- Note any changes to the data capture method or sources of data.
Unknown
Metadata
- Is there a description of each variable in the source along with their valid values?
No explicit descriptions
- Are there unique IDs for unique elements that can be used for linking data?
Yes, each student is provided unique idea that they keep throughout K-12.
- Can K-12 be linked to higher ed or higher ed to workforce?
Includes some records of where high school students go to college and what they are intending to study.
- Links to codebooks: No explicit codebooks, but see:
Accuracy
- Any known sources of error?
Participation rates are given in metadata; most are 100%, however some dip as low as 90%. It does not say whether or not this is due to students excused from taking tests or it is just missing data.
- Describe any quality control checks performed by the state (or data manager).
ALSDE says, “District data is checked, stored, and organized in the ALSDE’s data reporting system. ALSDE is charged with building, maintaining, and providing user support around the data reporting system.” This is all the information they provide for how the data is processed.
Accessibility
- How is the school-level data accessed (note if it needs to be screen scraped)?
School level data is freely available in csv format.
- How is the student-level data accessed?
Purchasing data is available at the student level. The format of this data is unknown. Data requests procedures are “measured against a pre-determined set of qualifiers that include, but are not limited to, applicability to the goals of the Alabama State Board of Education, data availability, report format ability, cost of report development, and adherence to FERPA requirements.
- Note if IRB is needed or any other restrictions on accessing data.
N/A
- Any records or fields collected, but not included in data source?
Yes, it is noted that “some reports may not be compiled due to laws restricting the information”, such as HIPAA, FERPA, or other privacy laws. However, it was not mentioned which reports specifically may be omitted.
- Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?
$1 for first 25 pages, $.50 per page thereafter, Unknown data extraction charges, $150/hour for those working on data, $5 charge for certified copies of records, $1 for CD or DVD, no per page charge, Report size cannot exceed 30 MB.
Privacy and security
- Note any confidentiality policies or legal limitations other than FERPA:
Data is not subject to the Open Records Act requests.
- What do they consider personally identifiable information?
Names, address, e-mail, telephone number
Research
- What research has been done with this dataset?
ALSDE has a Research and Development Section that is responsible for utilizing data to examine how current initiative and educational practice advocated by the ALSDE and/or local Agencies impact student’s academic and social development.
- Research links:
https://www.alsde.edu/sec/rd/Pages/home.aspx
Describe any other notes you have or any gaps/concerns you see with this dataset:
They do not describe specifically what their data provides. The website makes it seem like they will provide test score information at the student level. However, it does not specify if the student ID’s are maintained when tracking retention and graduation rates at the higher education level.