March 2025 Newsletter

We heard your feedback! Mathematica is thrilled to unveil the latest enhancements to the E-W Framework website to improve its usefulness and usability.

This spring, the Urban Institute is excited to launch the Education-to-Workforce Framework Data Tool. This innovative tool will display success indicators through interactive data across geographies and years, empowering communities to explore key measures of success across the education-to-workforce pipeline. This tool gives community-based organizations and advocates, education journalists, policymakers, administrators, funders, and others an accessible, easily digestible resource to visualize data on these metrics using all available federal data.

Often, data are presented in isolation or at a geographic level too far removed from communities and do not provide a comprehensive view of what is happening in schools and communities. The Education-to-Workforce Framework Data Tool allows users to explore data on both outcomes and system conditions at the county and census tract levels, offering a more complete picture of the conditions that help or hinder students’ success in their journeys from early education through the workforce in their specific communities. 

While we eagerly await the launch of this tool, we also want to remind you of the ongoing availability of federal education data through the Education Data Portal. The Portal is a one-stop shop for all federal education data, harmonized across sources and years, linked to school districts, and made useable for researchers and others. The Portal remains available during these turbulent times. For more information, please contact Maggie Reeves.

Preview of the forthcoming Urban Institute Education-to-Workforce Data Portal

Calling all preschool system leaders! The Early Childhood Data Collaborative (ECDC) at Child Trends has published a new resource to support implementation of the STEP Forward with Data Framework. This resource is for preschool systems that use or are considering using Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) to standardize their early learning or K–12 data. It shows alignment between the STEP Framework’s key questions and CEDS and provides examples, data elements for disaggregation, and considerations for implementation. Using the STEP Forward with Data Framework in conjunction with CEDS can help leaders use standardized data they already collect to understand how their system is working for children, families, and workforce members and identify where there are opportunities to make improvements.

On March 6, AEM hosted the SLDS Joint Webinar: Unlock Data Insights with the Education-to-Workforce Framework and CEDS. This session explored how the E-W Framework is leveraging CEDS to enhance accessibility and actionability of critical education data. With 94 attendees, including 70 participants from 28 states, as well as representatives from postsecondary institutions, early learning systems, nonprofits, and vendors, the webinar fostered valuable discussions on using the analysis plans for data-driven decision making.

Keep an eye out for other new releases from AEM coming soon!

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue working to enhance data accessibility and usability across education and workforce systems.

Dr. Adrian Neely, Associate Director of Research for the HBCU STEM US Center and lead author of the Data Equity Principles, recently received funding from the National Science Foundation to develop and execute a research training certificate program centered on equitable research practices. She will guide STEM and Social Science doctoral students, along with STEM undergraduates, in creating research projects that center the lived experiences of students pursuing STEM degrees at HBCUs. In this training program, students will learn to apply social science frameworks to examine STEM undergraduate experiences, aligning with the Center’s mission to tell the stories of undergraduate STEM success at HBCUs. Fellows will (1) learn equitable research methods that prioritize the unique perspectives of under-represented voices in STEM, (2) build collaborative research networks to advance STEM education research, and (3) develop and execute a cross-collaborative research agenda to broaden participation in STEM. The Data Equity Principles are foundational to the program’s format and curriculum.

Since its inception in 2019, the Nebraska Statewide Workforce & Educational Reporting System (NSWERS) has been a trailblazer in using state data to provide impactful insights for education and workforce development. Key highlights include the following:

Comprehensive Data Integration. NSWERS integrates and organizes Nebraska’s education and workforce data, enabling policymakers to benchmark the state's systems against national standards and make informed decisions.

Addressing Data Gaps. A 2021 analysis revealed gaps in post-high school data. NSWERS responded by developing strategic recommendations and fostering partnerships to enhance data collection and matching practices.

Research Framework and Predictive Indicators. NSWERS uses a scaffolded research framework to analyze outcomes. It has leveraged the E-W Framework to identify predictive indicators, such as third-grade reading proficiency, which is highly predictive of later success.

NSWERS data are already informing policy and practice, helping educators and policymakers support early literacy and improve student outcomes.

Are you interested in being featured on our website and in future newsletters? Please contact us to share your experience using components of the framework to guide your work or improve education and workforce data systems.

Visit Publications and Tools to find at-a-glance documents, infographics, resources from our partners, and more.

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