Smarter Systems, Stronger States: Five Smart Opportunities for Building Stronger State Data Systems

To start this new year with purpose, state leaders will need to have accurate and reliable information about their students. While data is consistently a topic of conversation (and often a source of heartburn), it is more important than ever for states to examine their data systems and understand what they know about their students and, more importantly, what they don’t.

As part of their participation in Launch, states completed a data capacity assessment that allowed them to dig deeply into how they currently gather, analyze, and share learner data. 

An aggregate look across these assessments revealed a number of trends, among them:

• Limited sharing of data across institutions and systems: Five out of seven Impact Cohort sites reported having no capacity or low capacity to share college and career pathways enrollment data among institutions and systems.
• Challenges in disaggregating learner data: Less than half of state actors have the capacity to disaggregate college and career pathways enrollment, persistence, and completion data by learner group.
• Low state-level capacity for making programmatic decisions: Just 29% of state actors reported having a high capacity to use work-based learning completion data to make programmatic decisions, at the same time that just 17% of them reported having a high capacity to use advising participation data to make programmatic decisions.
• Minimal collection of comprehensive pathways data: Less than half of the state actors in the Impact Cohort reported the capacity to collect learner-level college and career pathways participation data beyond course enrollment.

Big picture: when sites struggled to identify and address barriers along learner pathways, the reasons didn’t point back to a lack of data (indeed, states are often “data rich” due in large part to federal reporting requirements) but, rather, a limitation in when and how that data was shared, disaggregated, and used to inform critical decision points. Without a clear line of sight into the specific challenges for students, states are hindered in their ability to make informed programmatic decisions that could help remove obstacles in a learner’s path and design the appropriate interventions and supports. At a time of increased messaging around their autonomy and agency, states need to have the right information, at the right time, to ensure they’re doing right by all students and using their resources effectively. 

A new report released by Launch partners this month, Smarter Systems, Stronger States names five smart opportunities that states have to improve upon their current data systems to ensure their capacity and resources are being directed to where they can have the greatest impact. 

Smart Opportunity #1: Strengthen state infrastructure to connect across systems. Connecting data across state education and workforce systems is critical to monitoring learner transitions between programs to strengthen pathways and success.

Smart Opportunity #2: Use disaggregated data to better serve learners. Disaggregating data helps illuminate disparities and gaps in learners’ experiences within pathways to target resources, interventions, and policy changes where they are most needed.

Smart Opportunity #3: Build data capacity among leaders at all levels. Supporting strong data systems requires offering professional development and ongoing support for the people expected to contribute to, and use information from, the state’s systems.

Smart Opportunity #4: Evolve from compliance reporting to strategic quality assurance. The why matters. Shifting mindsets around data to move from an association with compliance reporting to more strategic efforts to ensure pathway quality for learners will help prioritize the most important work—and help cut costs and effort on the rest.

Smart Opportunity #5: Invest in tools that make data usable and accessible for all stakeholders. Identifying and investing in the tools necessary to better collect, track, and communicate data will increase buy-in and use of data to inform decision-making at all levels—from learners and families all the way to the statehouse.

As they take on new functions and commitments to students, state leaders need to be armed with the most valuable information that will guide their decisions and ensure they are meeting the needs of their communities. Building smarter data systems that leverage these five smart opportunities allows for data to be a powerful tool for leaders as they continue to build stronger states. Talk about a critical resolution for 2026!