VT Census Case Studies : Illinois K-12 Education and Workforce

Created and last modified by ziemer on 31 May 2015

Variables included in the Dataset:

K-12

  • Demographics
  • School
  • District
  • Attendance/Dropout
  • Grades/GPA
  • Courses
  • Test scores
  • ACT/SAT
  • Disciplinary action
  • Teacher info (salaries, etc.)

Higher Education: They are in the process of combining their data with the Illinois Board of Higher Education

  • Demographics
  • Type of college
  • Enrollment
  • Courses
  • Major
  • Grades
  • Tuition/Scholarships

Workforce: Only available for school employed individuals

  • Demographics
  • Salary
  • Industry

Link: http://www.isbe.net/research/ 

 

Date Inventory Completed: 5/28/15

Screening

  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th? ISBE says to allow for at least 60 days for application review process

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? NO

Explanation: 

Only contains Primary Education data and Workforce data for school employees. It cannot be linked to higher education.


Full Inventory 

Purpose

  • What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?

“Analyze data for policy and planning; coordinates annual reporting on progress related to Board goal and legislative requirements.”

  • Who else uses the data? (make a note if they sell the data to companies)

Government official use, but does not specify who else they give data permission to.


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?

 For Employment Information: 2013-2014, Teacher Records: 2002-2014 (can go back to 1980s, with FOIA request), and 2006-2014 school year for students.

  • How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided?

Less than one year

 

Method

  • What is the data collection method (portal, other)?

Portal

  • What is the raw source of the collected data (teacher, superintendent)?

Specifications given on how race is self-reported, but not on other variables besides that data is collected from the school.


Selectivity (conversely, the representativeness)

  • What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?

Public school data for K-12 education and employee level data from the students at the public higher education programs in Illinois that still work in Illinois. There is also data from Special Education Schools/Cooperative, Pre-Kindergarten and Birth to 3 programs.


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?

Yes

  • Are there unique IDs for unique elements that can be used for linking data?

Yes

  • Can K-12 be linked to higher ed or higher ed to workforce?

Yes

  • Links to codebooks: 

http://www.isbe.net/research/pdfs/data_inst_for_researchers.pdf 

 

Accuracy

  • Any known sources of error?

Unknown

  • Describe any quality control checks performed by the state (or data manager).

Unknown

 

Accessibility

  • How is the school-level data accessed (note if it needs to be screen scraped)?

Must also be requested, just less material required than student-level data.

  • How is the student-level data accessed?

Need to submit multiple materials: cover letter, project proposal, current resume or curriculum vitae of the principal researcher, evidence of approval or principal researcher’s knowledge and ability, written assurances, acknowledgement of confidentiality requirements, and certification.

  • Note if IRB is needed or any other restrictions on accessing data.

Yes

  • Any records or fields collected, but not included in data source?

Student addresses

  • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

Unknown

 

Privacy and security

  • Note any confidentiality policies or legal limitations other than FERPA:

N/A

  • What do they consider personally identifiable information?

Student names, family members, and address


Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset?

None available on site except for annual reports conducted by the department.

  • Research links:

N/A

Describe any other notes you have or any gaps/concerns you see with this dataset: This has the potential to be a very useful data source, however the main issue with it is that it has a long application for data the review process takes at least 60 days. There is also no appeal process. All review decisions are final.