Valuable Insights on How Tennessee and Kentucky Connect Education and Workforce Data

College and Career Readiness / CTE / Equity / Research / State Policy / State/System Reports / Student Outcomes /

It is critical that all states continue to build out data systems that effectively integrate workforce data to provide policymakers and other stakeholders with reliable information to explore student outcomes and address students’ needs to successfully navigate education and workforce systems. According to a State Higher Education Executives Officers Association (SHEEO)’s Strong Foundations survey from 2020, only 43 states linked or planned to link postsecondary data to workforce data and 34 states were able to access both K-12 and Workforce data elements.15 The federal government and state leaders must prioritize and continue to provide funding for stronger incentives and requirements for SDLS. Adequate funding for states to conduct equity-centered data collection and analysis is fundamental in any future federal- state partnership to fund public colleges.