VT Census Case Studies : Tennessee K-12 Education

Created and last modified by ziemer on 27 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

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

Workforce

  • Demographics
  • Salary
  • Industry

Link: http://tn.gov/education/data/data_requests.shtml 

 

Date Inventory Completed: 5/22/15

Screening

  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th? Submitted a data request. Internal Review Committee meets on a monthly basis so chances are pretty good assuming that we get approved

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

Explanation: We submitted a data request and can likely access K-12 student-level education data by August 15th. However, it is not clear whether this information can be linked to Higher Ed or Workforce data.

Full Inventory 

Purpose

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

“In Tennessee, we know that to make improvements in educational outcomes, we have to set measurable goals and use data to continually monitor whether what we are doing is working.”

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

Government officials, media, research/advocacy organization, and general public may get approved for student level data. Otherwise, school and district level data is available to everyone.


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?

2010-2013

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

Data for previous school year can be provided (i.e. if 2015, 2013-2014 school year available)


Method

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

Portal

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

Schools report, not specified if it is teachers or school administrators.

  

Selectivity (conversely, the representativeness)

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

Public K-12 schools. Unclear if private and charter is included.


Stability/Coherence

  • Note any changes to the universe of data being captured (e.g., including private schools).

None noted

  • Note any changes to the data capture method or sources of data.

None noted


Metadata

  • Is there a description of each variable in the source along with their valid values?

Yes, for each data type, i.e. profile data files, there is a brief description of the data set and what all of the variables are.

  • 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?

Unclear

 

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)?

All can be easily downloaded as .csv

  • How is the student-level data accessed?

Must fill out a request form. There is an expedited process.

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

Request will go through internal review board which meets monthly, final approval will be through commissioner.

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

Unknown

  • 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


Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset? 

Most research with this data is for guiding future TDOE policy decisions. Some examples include recent retirement trends, advanced placement strategy, and course placement series.


Describe any other notes you have or any gaps/concerns you see with this dataset: SAT data is not available at the school level, which raises concerns about whether it will be provided at the student level.