Cradle-to-Career Data System

Background

In July 2021 Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 132 (Chapter 144, Statues of 2021), which establishes the California C2C Data System. This legislation is the culmination of a multi-year planning process between the CDE and other state agencies to establish a statewide, longitudinal data system for California. The CDE is one of 11 state agencies participating in the C2C Data System, a system intended to connect data from early education, K-12 education, financial aid, higher education, workforce, and health and human services. The C2C Data System will connect individuals and organizations with information and resources that provide insights into critical milestones from early care to employment. This system, when fully built, will better equip policy makers, educators, and the public with tools and information that can be used to address disparities in opportunities and improve outcomes for all students throughout the state. The following state departments, agencies, and commissions, when the system is fully developed, will share information:

• Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges
• University of California
• California State University
• California Commission on Teacher Credentialing
• California Student Aid Commission
• California Employment Development Department
• California Labor and Workforce Development Agency
• California Health and Human Services Agency
• California Department of Social Services
• California Department of Technology
• California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education

Assembly Bill 132 also designates the Government Operations Agency to implement the C2C Data System and outlines the creation of a C2C Governing Board. For additional information about the C2C Data System, legislative reports, and the governing board, please visit the California Cradle to Career System web site.

CDE’s Role as the Leading Educational Data Steward

As the largest educational data contributor to the Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System, the CDE is a key partner in the implementation of this new system. The CDE annually collects data on nearly 6 million public kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) students who are enrolled in over 1,000 districts and 10,000 schools, including more than 1,300 charter schools. The CDE also collects data on over 365,000 certificated staff, including data on over 300,000 teachers.

The CDE provides access to a wide range of data resources to the public and to qualified researchers. Between the spring of 2015 and spring 2022, the CDE received over 1,000 requests for K-12 data. The CDE fulfilled more than 300 of those requests, many of them with leading education researchers at universities and non-profits institutions who agreed to perform research for or on behalf of the CDE in order to improve K-12 instruction for California students. By committing to contribute K-12 student data to the C2C Data System, the CDE will facilitate additional research, to occur through the C2C Data System by providing an on-going linkage between early education experiences and postsecondary and employment outcomes. To learn more about CDE’s Data Request process, please visit the Data Request webpage.

The CDE currently collects and publicly reports on K-12 educational data through a variety of sources identified below. These are currently available and will align with and provide the backbone for the cross-agency data that the C2C Data System is expected to publish.

• Data & Statistics webpage – This is the main public facing page that provides the public with access to educational data, statistics, and information about California’s students and schools.
  
  
• Data Reports webpage – Provides the public access to data reports about California’s students, teachers, and schools by topic area. The list of reports available on this page is updated as new reports become available. An example of this is the new Stability Rate Data report that became available in January of 2022. The public is encouraged to view each of the reports periodically as these are updated on an annual basis.
  
  
• California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) webpage – California’s longitudinal data system that maintains individual student level data that includes demographics, course data, assessments, staff assignments, and other data for state and federal reporting. This system will provide the foundation for information to be shared with the C2C Data System. The webpage provides the latest information for CALPADS adjustments and reporting which can include new collections, changes to collections, and changes to reporting dates.
  
  
• California School Information Services (CSIS) webpage - Information about the organization supporting CALPADS and local educational agencies (LEAs) in data submissions. CSIS is a division of Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), which is under the administrative oversight of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. The primary role of FCMAT/CSIS is to support the CDE in the maintenance and operations of CALPADS. While CALPADS is a CDE-owned data system, in collaboration with the CDE, CSIS provides technical assistance, support, and training to LEAs and provides technical support and maintenance of CALPADS, including requirements, programming, testing, configuration/deployment, and maintenance functions. For more information about CSIS, visit the CSIS web site .
  
  
• Accessing Educational Data webpage – An overview of the resources the public can access for information collected by the California Department of Education (CDE), including enrollment data, course information, demographic and student group data, staff data, school and district accountability, statewide assessment results, and directory information though the link provided above. The page provides links to publicly reported educational information submitted to the CDE by Local Educational Agencies (LEAs).
  
  
• DataQuest webpage – CDE's web-based reporting system for public information about California’s students, teachers, and schools. Provides meaningful data and statistics about California's K-12 public educational system that supports a wide variety of informational, research, and policy needs. Summary and detailed data reports are available for multiple subject areas at the school, district, county, and state levels. In 2019, the CDE released new College-Going Rate reports on DataQuest that show the percentage of California public high school students who completed high school in a given year and subsequently enrolled in any public or private postsecondary institution (in-state or out-of-state) in the United States within 12 or 16 months of completing high school. In July of 2022 the CDE released new Teacher Assignment Monitoring report on DataQuest that compares classroom-based teaching assignment, as reported by LEAs, to credential authorization data provided by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing .
  
  
• California School Dashboard webpage – The California School Dashboard (Dashboard) contains reports that display the performance of LEAs, schools, and student groups on a set of state and local measures to assist in identifying strengths, challenges, and areas in need of improvement. For more information on understanding the Dashboard, and the difference between state and local measures, please visit the CDE Dashboard Resources web page.
  
  
• CodeStack webpage – Through the San Joaquin County Office of Education, CodeStack provides the CDE with the maintenance and support of the California School Dashboard web site and mobile application. This includes hosting the public website and Dashboard administrator functionality.
  

CDE Supports the Cradle to Career Data System

Assembly Bill 132 (Chapter 144, Statues of 2021) requires the state to build a "data system", or data infrastructure, that allows for the integration of data from K-12 public education, early learning and care, higher education, student financial aid, workforce development, and human services. That system, known as the California Cradle to Career (C2C) Data System will be developed and managed by the Government Operations Agency. When completed the C2C Data System will include a suite of user-friendly resources focused on early learning through K-12 and higher education, as well as on the financial aid and social services that help students reach their goals. The CDE is a participating agency in the C2C system.

Providing Feedback to Managing Entity for Policies and Procedures

Under the leadership of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the CDE enthusiastically participated in the C2C Data System planning process over the course of 2020 and the first half of 2021, to assist with the development of the C2C Data System. During this period the CDE contributed to various subcommittees who provided background papers to the C2C Work Group with recommendations for the development of the C2C Data System. The background papers can be accessed at Resources - CA Data System (wested.org) . The subcommittees and advisory groups on which CDE participated include:

• Common Identifier Subcommittee
• Definitions Subcommittee
• Legal Subcommittee
• Research Agenda Subcommittee
• Technology and Security Subcommittee

Three CDE executives served on the C2C Workgroup, which reviewed the recommendations provided by the various subcommittees and approved the release of the following three reports to the legislature.

• First Legislative Report (PDF; December 2020)
• Legislative Update Report (PDF; April 2021)
• Final Legislative Report (PDF; June 2021)

These Legislative Reports formed the basis of the California Cradle to Career Act. As the data system is built and implemented the managing entity will provide annual update report to the California Legislature.

• September 1, 2022 Cradle to Career Data System Annual Report (PDF) to the Legislature
  

The CDE continues to support and assist with the implementation of the C2C Data System. The CDE signed the participation agreement and has served on the Governing Board of the C2C Data System since its inception. The CDE will also participate as a member the Data and Tools Advisory Board to the C2C Governance Board. Staff from CDE will review deliverables provided by the Community Engagement Advisory Board .