Today, at the North Carolina Education Cabinet meeting, Gov. Roy Cooper signed executive order No. 249 to establish the North Carolina Longitudinal Data System (NCLDS) Governance Board. The board will provide guidance and recommendations to the Government Data and Analytics Center (GDAC) on setting goals and priorities, establishing a policy and research agenda and developing an implementation plan for next steps for the NCLDS.
"This order will help us make more data driven decisions that will connect students to better paying jobs and employers with better educated workers," said Governor Cooper. "This effort will strengthen our schools and our workforce, making a brighter future for all."
In 2017, Gov. Cooper charged the Education Cabinet with improving data sharing between the education and workforce sectors. As a result of that charge, the state's education and workforce leaders began working together to strengthen the state's education longitudinal data systems.
In April 2019, the Education Cabinet commissioned a study to look at how to modernize the state’s education longitudinal data systems. The study, which was conducted by a team from UNC-Chapel Hill, was completed in June 2020. At its February 2021 meeting, the Education Cabinet endorsed four recommended next steps from the UNC study, including the establishment of an NCLDS Executive Board.
The executive order accomplishes one of the recommended steps from the UNC study, by creating the NCLDS Governance Board to advise GDAC. The data contributors to the NCLDS include the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, N.C. Department of Public Instruction, N.C. Community College System, University of North Carolina System, N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities and N.C. Department of Commerce. Leadership from each of the data contributors will be serving on the board.
GDAC provides support and direction to North Carolina’s three existing education longitudinal data systems: the Common Follow-Up System, NC SchoolWorks and Early Childhood Integrated Data System. The three systems, which are collaborations between the state’s early childhood, education and workforce agencies, support data-informed decision-making to improve educational services and outcomes for North Carolinians.
Read the executive order.