VT Census Case Studies : Kentucky Longitudinal Data System

Created and last modified by ziemer on 12 Aug 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

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

Workforce

  • Demographics
  • Salary
  • Industry

Link: https://kcews.ky.gov/Default.aspx

 

Date Inventory Completed: 6/9/15

Screening

  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th? 

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? Yes

Explanation: Primary, higher ed, and workforce data is all linked. Workforce wage data is not available on an individual level, however, it can be made available on a school-level and broken down by year and major. A data request has been submitted and will need to sign an MOU. Staff in the Department anticipated that we could have the data in one month. Contact person: Barrett Ross; barrettm.ross@ky.gov; 502-564-9131.


Full Inventory 

Purpose

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

To inform teachers and educators to understand how to better prep students for college and for the workforce.

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

Researchers and educators

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?

2009-2014

  • 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)?

Collection from various agencies like the Kentucky Department of Education, Council on Postsecondary Education, Educational Professional Standards Board, Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, and the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.


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

It likely differs from agency to agency, the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics is responsible for maintining the data for all these organizations.


Selectivity (conversely, the representativeness)

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

Students who attend public schools in Kentucky. 

 

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:

PDF is located in Kentucky file


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)?

School level/district level data can be downloaded, but some categories have percentages, not counts. Additionally only certain years are available even thought they may have data for more.

  • How is the student-level data accessed?

Submit form detailing project proposal and having expected dates for project completion. Also, they do not provide student-level data for higher edu to external researchers. Instead, they run the analyses that the researcher requires internally and provide the results. 

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

No

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

Wage data at the individual level is excluded. They also suppress any information that has less than 10 people.

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

$8500

 

Privacy and security

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

N/A

  • What do they consider personally identifiable information?

Address, name, and SSN.


Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset?

employment outcomes, college outcomes, teacher impact

  • Research links:

All located under “white papers” at https://kcews.ky.gov