Student-Level Data denotes to any information that teachers, schools, districts, and state agencies gather on individual students,
- Includes data such as personal information (e.g., a student’s age, gender, race, place of residence), enrollment information (e.g., the school a student attends, a student’s current grade level and years of attendance, the number of days a student was absent), academic information (e.g., the courses a student completed, the test scores and grades a students earned, the academic requirements a student has fulfilled), and various other forms of data collected and used by educators and educational institutions (e.g., information related to disciplinary problems, learning disabilities, medical and health issues, etc.).
Purposes:
- Preserve more robust, precise, and comprehensive student records for educators, students, graduates, parents, collegiate institutions, employers, and others who may need or request the information.
- Update or improve the instructional process by giving teachers and other educators and specialists information about the different learning needs, academic progress, and educational achievements of specific students.
- Inform or improve various student-support strategies or systems, which may include any number of academic, behavioral, mental, health, or social services that students may need or access.
- Enhance the accuracy and reliability of aggregate educational data—such as graduation, dropout, or enrollment rates reported for schools, districts, and states—that originates from individual data collected on a large number of students.
- Track trends in the educational performance of individual students or educational systems over time using information such as school-completion data or standardized-test scores, for example.
- Recognize problems or weaknesses in the educational performance of students, teachers, schools, or districts for the purpose of improving academic achievement, teaching effectiveness, or educational results.
Development
- Before, data gathering was generally limited to teacher grade books, report cards, school transcripts, attendance files, and other administrative records maintained by schools and districts. This, however, was largely or entirely paper-based and therefore difficult, time consuming, and costly to collect, organize, or analyze. It limited the ability of educators, researchers, and others to use student-level data to diagnose education problems, track trends in performance over time, or enhance the effectiveness of schools or teaching, for example
- Technological advances in educational software, computing technologies, internet access, and innovations such as cloud-based data storage and “big data” analytics have fueled a dramatic increase in the collection and use of student-level data in recent years.
- Early 2000s: Some districts and state education agencies have been utilizing large-scale data systems capable of collecting, archiving, and generating reports on a vast array of student-level data originating from multiple sources, ranging from schools to standardized tests. As technological advances make the collection of data on individual students more efficient, inexpensive, and potentially valuable to the educational process, an increasingly large, diverse, and ever more complex body of student-level data is being collected, archived, analyzed, and used at all levels of the educational system and by a growing number of researchers, institutions, organizations, and companies.
Note:
If student-level data is being collected for motives other than keeping academic records for students and their families, it is almost certainly being used, in some form, to reform or improve schools and education systems—even if the purpose is merely to provide more accurate, useful, and detailed information about performance to those working to improve schools.
While much of the discussion about student-level data in public education is focused on the large-scale collection of personal data on individual students—and on the potential applications and possible abuses of that information—the term also encompasses any information that teachers and other educators or specialists may use during the process of educating individual students. For example, teachers may keep journals, logs, or other records detailing the distinct learning needs or progress of individual students—information that may or may not be shared with colleagues and administrators or formally reported to state education agencies and other entities outside of the school. Personal learning plans, for example, are one of the many possible methods that educators might use to collect data on individual students. Early warning systems—usually databases of academic, attendance, and disciplinary information that educators use to identify and monitor students who are struggling academically or in danger of dropping out of school or not graduating on time—are another example.
Issue:
Student Privacy: Teachers and schools have always gathered and maintained records of student-level data, but the transition from paper-based systems to digital systems, and from small-scale data collection by schools to large-scale data collection by state agencies and private companies, has caused numerous debates about student-level data and student privacy.
Student-Level Data
- any information that teachers, schools, districts, and state agencies gather on individual students,
- Includes data such as personal information (e.g., a student’s age, gender, race, place of residence), enrollment information (e.g., the school a student attends, a student’s current grade level and years of attendance, the number of days a student was absent), academic information (e.g., the courses a student completed, the test scores and grades a students earned, the academic requirements a student has fulfilled), and various other forms of data collected and used by educators and educational institutions (e.g., information related to disciplinary problems, learning disabilities, medical and health issues, etc.).
Purposes:
- Preserve more robust, precise, and comprehensive student records for educators, students, graduates, parents, collegiate institutions, employers, and others who may need or request the information.
- Update or improve the instructional process by giving teachers and other educators and specialists information about the different learning needs, academic progress, and educational achievements of specific students.
- Inform or improve various student-support strategies or systems, which may include any number of academic, behavioral, mental, health, or social services that students may need or access.
- Enhance the accuracy and reliability of aggregate educational data—such as graduation, dropout, or enrollment rates reported for schools, districts, and states—that originates from individual data collected on a large number of students.
- Track trends in the educational performance of individual students or educational systems over time using information such as school-completion data or standardized-test scores, for example.
- Recognize problems or weaknesses in the educational performance of students, teachers, schools, or districts for the purpose of improving academic achievement, teaching effectiveness, or educational results.
Development
- Before, data gathering was generally limited to teacher grade books, report cards, school transcripts, attendance files, and other administrative records maintained by schools and districts. This, however, was largely or entirely paper-based and therefore difficult, time consuming, and costly to collect, organize, or analyze. It limited the ability of educators, researchers, and others to use student-level data to diagnose education problems, track trends in performance over time, or enhance the effectiveness of schools or teaching, for example
- Technological advances in educational software, computing technologies, internet access, and innovations such as cloud-based data storage and “big data” analytics have fueled a dramatic increase in the collection and use of student-level data in recent years.
- Early 2000s: Some districts and state education agencies have been utilizing large-scale data systems capable of collecting, archiving, and generating reports on a vast array of student-level data originating from multiple sources, ranging from schools to standardized tests. As technological advances make the collection of data on individual students more efficient, inexpensive, and potentially valuable to the educational process, an increasingly large, diverse, and ever more complex body of student-level data is being collected, archived, analyzed, and used at all levels of the educational system and by a growing number of researchers, institutions, organizations, and companies.
Note:
If student-level data is being collected for motives other than keeping academic records for students and their families, it is almost certainly being used, in some form, to reform or improve schools and education systems—even if the purpose is merely to provide more accurate, useful, and detailed information about performance to those working to improve schools.
While much of the discussion about student-level data in public education is focused on the large-scale collection of personal data on individual students—and on the potential applications and possible abuses of that information—the term also encompasses any information that teachers and other educators or specialists may use during the process of educating individual students. For example, teachers may keep journals, logs, or other records detailing the distinct learning needs or progress of individual students—information that may or may not be shared with colleagues and administrators or formally reported to state education agencies and other entities outside of the school. Personal learning plans, for example, are one of the many possible methods that educators might use to collect data on individual students. Early warning systems—usually databases of academic, attendance, and disciplinary information that educators use to identify and monitor students who are struggling academically or in danger of dropping out of school or not graduating on time—are another example.
Issue:
Student Privacy: Teachers and schools have always gathered and maintained records of student-level data, but the transition from paper-based systems to digital systems, and from small-scale data collection by schools to large-scale data collection by state agencies and private companies, has caused numerous debates about student-level data and student privacy.