July 09, 2015

Senators Warren and Gardner introduce bipartisan amendment to improve education data transparency and analysis

Amendment would require data to be reported by certain demographic subgroups to improve understanding of issues facing vulnerable students

WASHINGTON, DC -United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) have introduced a bipartisan amendment to the Every Child Achieves Act that would strengthen education data transparency and analysis by requiring that academic assessment and graduation rate data on state report cards be reported by certain student subgroups- for example, African-American boys, Hispanic girls, or girls with disabilities.

This additional data transparency would help improve communities' and researchers' understanding of issues faced by certain vulnerable populations, without placing any additional reporting burdens on states and local schools or districts.

"We need to measure and report student performance in a way that gives us the right tools to help all our kids succeed," Senator Warren said. "I'm glad to join Senator Gardner to introduce this bipartisan amendment to improve the quality of our education data without putting new burdens on our states and communities."

"Data is only as useful as it is usable," said Senator Gardner. "This amendment would ensure that the huge volume of education data generated by the states is available to researchers, policymakers, and experts in a format that they can use to help advance and improve academic achievement, and make sure no student slips through the cracks."

The Every Child Achieves Act currently requires State Report Cards to include academic assessment and graduation rate data reported based on certain characteristics, including race, gender, disability status, economically disadvantaged status, English Proficiency status, and migrant status. The Warren-Gardner amendment requires that states include on their digital report cards the academic assessment and graduation rate data of students who fit into more than one of those groups to help communities identify issues that are present at the intersections of those characteristics.

A PDF copy of the amendment is available here.

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