After eight years of work and $640 million in federal spending, state data systems that seek to link education and the workforce remain riddled with holes.
That was the conclusion of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a report released in November. The GAO looked at two federal grant programs to support states' development of "longitudinal" data systems that try to follow students as they move from early education to K-12, college and employment.
The good news is that states are using some of the resulting data to "inform policy decisions and shape research agendas," according to the report. And 31 states have the ability to track some people all the way through their educations and into the workforce.
However, the data are typically limited. And the report found widespread problems in matching information from various databases, particularly tracking individuals across the gap between college or high school and the employment market.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/08/gao-report-finds-state-education-and-workforce-databases-lacking