States, Data, and Meeting Education Goals Under ESSA
August 20, 2018
States have “made big commitments” in their ESSA accountability plans to leverage data in an effective manner and help reach their education goals, which is a “major recognition of data as a powerful tool when it’s working for students,” The Data Quality Campaign’s Brennan McMahon Parton writes in The 74. DQC recently took a look at every state’s ESSA plan and found that, “while approaches to student success vary, the commitment to data use is clear.” McMahon outlines three “major ways” states are “deploying data” to meet their goals, such as supporting districts’ and schools’ use of data, using data at the “agency level to monitor and foster progress,” and increasing transparency.