Data Requests

CDE data request web page is being redeveloped and redesigned.

The California Department of Education (CDE) collects student-level data through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) for state and federal reporting purposes. These data, in addition to assessment data, are available at the aggregate level to the public through the CDE's data reporting portal, DataQuest, and the CDE Downloadable Data Files Web page.

For data that are not available through these public resources, the CDE maintains a Data Request process that facilitates the release of assessment data and CALPADS information (located under the Resources tab) while ensuring compliance with state and federal data privacy and security laws (see the Law and Regulations tab for further information).

CDE data requests are currently suspended for the system to be redesigned and redeveloped.

Effective June 1, 2021, the California Departments of Education's (CDE's) data requests portal for new data requests is suspended in order for the system to be redesigned and redeveloped. During this period, the CDE will be working to develop a revised system to meet the increasing demands for data and to improve system functionality and processing. In addition, the CDE is working to align our data request and fulfillment procedures with the new system under development for the Cradle-to-Career Data System.

While we are currently not accepting new data requests, we are still working on data requests that are submitted prior to our system overhaul. In early 2022 we plan to unveil a new and improved process.

If you have any additional questions, you can contact us by email at CDEdatarequests@cde.ca.gov.

Members of the press or other media outlets requesting data from the CDE must contact the CDE Communications Office for assistance by e-mail at communications@cde.ca.gov or by phone at 916-316-0818.

Please note that the CDE is a public state agency and as such all data requests (i.e., personally identifiable information [PII] and non-PII), once fulfilled or denied, will be publically posted on this Data Request Web page under the Archived Data Requests tab.

Laws and Regulations

All data requestors seeking to use CDE data must be familiar with, and comply with, state and federal laws pertaining to data security and confidentiality. Data requests must be managed in accordance with all applicable federal and state privacy laws including, but not limited to: the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1984 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99); The National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 CFR Section 245.6), the California Information Practices Act (California Civil Code Section 1798); and California Education Code (EC).

Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The FERPA (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records.

The National School Lunch Act

The National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758; 7 CFR Section 245.6) is a federal law that limits the use or disclosure of a family's or child's name and National School Lunch Program (NSLP) information.

California Information Practices Act

The California Information Practices Act, Civil Code Section 1798.24 (Senate Bill 13) requires government agencies to protect the privacy of personal information maintained by state agencies.

California Education Code

EC Section 49079.5 states the intent of the Legislature to make the CALPADS accessible to "authorized stakeholders" including researchers.

EC Section 49079.7 enables the CDE to charge reasonable fees upon researchers applying for access to individually personally identifiable information in order to cover costs of responding to time-intensive request.

EC Section 49558 limits the use and disclosure of NSLP information.

EC Section 60641(a)(2) prohibits the comparison of scores and results of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) assessments and the scores and results from assessments that measured previously adopted content standards.

PII and Non-PII

The CDE is allowed to enter into select agreements with experienced researchers at nonprofit organizations, universities, colleges, and community colleges to conduct studies for or on behalf of the CDE using CDE supplied PII.
PII includes a student's name and/or other direct personal identifiers, such as the student's identification number. Personally identifiable data also includes indirect identifiers, such as the name of the student's parents, guardians or other family members; the student's or family's address; and personal characteristics or other information that would make the student's identity easily traceable. A sample list of data that may be considered to be PII is available on the CDE Data Privacy Web page.

Resources

Archived Data Requests

Since the launch of the online Data Request portal in the spring of 2015, the California Department of Education (CDE) has responded to hundreds of requests for data from university and non-profit researchers and the general public. Requests for data are reviewed to ensure they align with the CDE's 2018–2020 CDE Research Priorities. In particular, requests for student-level data or personally identifiable information (PII) must pass a high threshold for methodological and study design integrity and must demonstrate requester capacity for safeguarding private student information consistent with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and all other state and federal student privacy laws as described in the PII and Non-PII tab. Due to this high standard, a long queue of requests, and limited CDE staff resources dedicated to fulfilling requests, PII requests typically take several months to fulfill. Once approved, the fulfillment of all requests, whether for PII or non-PII data, depends on the availability of CDE staff resources.
Since the spring of 2015, the CDE has received nearly 1,000 and fulfilled over 300 data requests from more than 200 unique entities that met our requirements, including approximately 50 requests for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data. A summary of the requests submitted through the CDE Data Request process with the following elements are available in Archived Data Requests downloadable data file (XLSX; Updated 15-October-2021).

Requestor's name
Requestor's organization
Request title
Resolution code (fulfilled or not)
Reason(s), if not fulfilled
Does request include any PII? (PII/Non-PII)
Date requested
Date fulfilled (if applicable)
Link to a final study report (if applicable)

Questions:

Data Visualization and Reporting Office | DVRO@cde.ca.gov | 916-322-3245
Data Visualization and Reporting Office | CDEdatarequests@cde.ca.gov | 916-322-3245

Last Reviewed: Friday, October 15, 2021

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