State Longitudinal Data Systems Public-Use Project

Larry Hedges will serve as the Co-PI of the grant entitled State Longitudinal Data Systems Public-Use Project. In that role he will collaborate with Eric Hedberg to investigate the feasibility of establishing a process to create data products with two primary purposes: (a) to greatly expand access to the rapidly growing longitudinal databases on student academic performance now being compiled by virtually all states, and (b) to mitigate the burden on the states of responding to researcher requests for these data in a manner that meets the stringent standards set by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99). He will focus on creating complex samples of longitudinal data that employ data masking techniques to minimize the risk of identifying students and families. The end goal of the larger project is to make state data data FERPA compliant and available to researchers, while allowing inferences to be made about the full population of students. He will also be responsible for supervising the work of his research assistant, developing manuscripts drawn from the research and to present his research findings at professional meeting.