H.R. 3253: Longitudinal Student Data

On July 31, Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced H.R. 3253, Measuring and Evaluating Trends for Reliability, Integrity and Continued Success Act (METRICS). The bill would provide grants to states to create, maintain and utilize longitudinal student data systems capable of tracking student academic progress over time. The bill also calls for the establishment of a national data center to serve as a central repository for state education and safety data.

The bill text is not yet available, but there are three notable points. First, the longitudinal data systems would be used to evaluate the effect of teacher preparation on student achievement. The use of student longitudinal academic data to measure teacher effectiveness is an emerging topic on Capitol Hill. This is, in part, due to
the active lobbying of the Aspen Institute’s Commission on No Child Left Behind, the Education Trust and others who are eager to see the growing volume of academic data linked to some kind of analysis of teacher effectiveness. How this would be done in a valid, reliable way is the life of the debate, and it is a topic that has has captured the attention of many in Washington.

Second, the bill seeks to determine the value added effectiveness of specific schools and programs. This suggests that the data-marts for the METRICS system would be far more comprehensive than just academic data. A value added analysis requires that the state educational agency is able to isolate a single data point from multiple data points, and that assumes a data system that manages and extracts multiple points in a valid manner. This is noteworthy because such a system would likely require years to develop.

Third, the bill calls for the establishment of a national data center for serve as a central repository for state education and safety data. What this means, exactly, is not clear, but it does foreshadow a coming debate in Washington: The future role of the U.S. Department of Education as a clearing house of state (and even local) academic data and reporting. Interest groups, such as the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, would like to see ED become more of a data reporting hub and less of a program compliance enforcement agency. While the issue is not yet prominent, it is a topic in the crosshairs of more than a few advocacy groups in Washington.

Nobody really expects this bill to move out of Committee, but it has gathered attention because its language is an important contribution to the ongoing discussions on the nature and funding of longitudinal data systems in the reauthorized No Child Left Behind.

Resources:
Representative Rush Holt, the 12th District of New Jersey, http://holt.house.gov/index.shtml.
“H.R. 3253, To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide for the use of longitudinal data systems,” The Library of Congress, THOMAS, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h3253:.
Author: DAD