Release date: 3/9/2020

The Ohio Department of Education announced today that it will receive a $3.25 million federal grant aimed at helping states design, develop, implement and expand educational data systems.   The Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Grant Program awarded the funds based on Ohio’s plan to accelerate and expand use of its existing data system to better support educators so they can challenge, prepare and empower each student to meet his or her post-high school goals and dreams.   “Ohio has one of the nation’s leading educational data infrastructures,” said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. “That means we are poised to make the best use of the federal award announced today. This grant funding will make it possible for us to leverage our data systems in ways that have a positive, real-world impact on the day-to-day learning that happens in classrooms across the state.”   “The grant announced today provides an amazing boost to our ongoing work aimed at using data to inform and transform education in Ohio,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria. “Specifically, we will take advantage of this funding to pursue one of the core principles stated in our strategic plan, Each Child, Our Future, which is equity. Effective use of data is the surest way to identify and address the root causes of inequities in education and promote practices that systemically dismantle existing, and guard against future, inequities.”   Goals for the funding in Ohio include:

• Linking preK-12 and workforce data to improve our understanding of students’ post-high school outcomes;  
• Enhancing Ohio’s Equitable Access Analysis Tool, improving access to information about equity gaps within Ohio;  
• Creating new reports that improve educators’ insight into students’ progress toward graduation; and 
• Providing additional training and resources for Ohio’s Regional Data Lead network, further supporting their efforts to build capacity for local data use. 

Ultimately, the funding will allow Ohio to operationalize the vision established by Each Child, Our Future,  the state’s strategic plan for education, which reads: In Ohio, each child is challenged to discover and learn, prepared to pursue a fulfilling post-high school path and empowered to become a resilient, lifelong learner who contributes to society.