PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Education on Wednesday was awarded a $3.2 million federal grant to enhance data collection related to college and career readiness throughout Rhode Island.
The four-year cooperative agreement from the the U.S. Department of Education's Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program will help bolster the state’s efforts in gathering and utilizing critical data to better prepare students for successful futures in both higher education and the workforce.
“Harnessing the power of data in education is the key to unlocking doors to college and career opportunities and ensuring every student can build their own success story,” said R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. "By leveraging this grant, we can help ensure that Rhode Island's education and workforce systems are well-aligned. We share our gratitude with the Department of Labor and Training and the Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner for their continued partnership.”
The grant will primarily support the R.I. Longitudinal Data System Center, which connects three decades of previously siloed education, employment, and health data using a custom-built machine learning algorithm to ensure accurate person-level matches. New education and workforce records will be added into the data system and look to expand partnerships with other agencies.
That project will also reimagine the Rhode Island Talent Dashboard and create a data tool displaying college and career outcomes by pathway and subgroup.
"Rhode Island is committed to providing its students with the best opportunities for success in their educational and career journeys," said Gov. Daniel J. McKee. "This generous grant will empower our state to strengthen our data collection methods, ensuring that our education and workforce systems are aligned to support students in reaching their full potential."
To improve data accessibility and facilitate data use, Rhode Island will also award grants to researchers investigating priority research and policy questions related to college and career pathways and the secondary regulations.
“With improved data collection and analysis, Rhode Island can better understand successes and challenges in our education and workforce systems,” said R.I. Postsecondary Education Commissioner Shannon Gilkey. “By strengthening our systems, we will be able to improve outcomes among [youths] preparing for the postsecondary degrees and credentials of value necessary for well-paying, good jobs. On behalf of all the partners, we thank the U.S. Department of Education for giving us the means and opportunity via this generous grant.”
Also, through this funding, RIDE, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training and the R.I. Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner will redesign and streamline the K-12 datasets essential to the Rhode Island Readiness-Based Graduation Requirements.
