Purposes

The purposes of this Act are— (1) to promote the use of accessible, seamless data available through robust, secure, and tailored statewide longitudinal data systems that— (A) protect privacy and confidentiality in accordance with applicable Federal and State privacy laws; and (B) connect early childhood education, elementary school and secondary school, postsecondary education, adult education, workforce development, and employment outcomes data, in order to help State and local policymakers address emerging and longstanding cross-sector challenges and provide communities insights they need to make informed decisions about their education and workforce training options; (2) to modernize section 208 of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9607), as in effect on the day before the date of enactment on this Act, with a more flexible, consolidated source of funding that States can use to improve their statewide longitudinal data systems, including the infrastructure and capacity of those systems; and (3) to support more robust statewide longitudinal data systems in order to ensure consistency and compatibility of data elements, formats, and structures.