U.S. Department of Education

Data Strategy

December 2020
U.S. Department of Education, Data Strategy Page ii

U.S. Department of Education Data Strategy

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Contents 

Message from the Chief Data Officer ............................................................................ 1

Executive Summary.................................................................................................... 2

Vision, Mission and Guiding Principles .......................................................................... 4

Data Strategy Goals.................................................................................................... 5

Goal 1. Strengthen agency-wide data governance ......................................................... 6

Objective 1.1: Implement a new data governance program to evolve structures, policies, and 

procedures ................................................................................................................................. 6

Objective 1.2: Develop and implement a data policy framework around a formalized data 

management lifecycle ................................................................................................................ 7

Objective 1.3: Develop and implement a data investment management process ............................. 7

Objective 1.4: Formalize principal operating component data management functions and advance 

the maturity of those functions .................................................................................................. 8

Objective 1.5: Implement a cohesive data quality approach for the agency, leveraging best 

practices, technical assistance, and controls............................................................................... 8

Goal 2. Build human capacity to leverage data .............................................................. 9

Objective 2.1: Develop a data workforce plan that identifies goals, gaps, and strategies.................. 9

Objective 2.2: Develop and implement a data literacy program to ensure all staff can speak 

information and data................................................................................................................ 10

Objective 2.3: Establish clear career paths and training curriculums for data professionals ............ 10

Objective 2.4: Develop and implement a short-term data workforce staffing plan ......................... 11

Goal 3. Advance the strategic use of data..................................................................... 11

Objective 3.1: Identify and deliver data needed to complete the agency's Learning Agenda .......... 11

Objective 3.2: Identify prioritized use cases and initiate an agency data analytics platform............ 12

Objective 3.3: Integrate data visualization and storytelling into priority communications and 

Department culture.................................................................................................................. 12

Objective 3.4: Improve the development, reporting, and use of agency programs' performance and 

accountability measures........................................................................................................... 13

Objective 3.5: Ensure modernization of the Department’s grant management system meets 

statutory data requirements and supports strategic data use................................................... 13

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Goal 4. Improve data access, transparency, and privacy ............................................... 14

Objective 4.1: Develop and implement an Open Data Plan that describes the Department’s efforts 

to make its data open to the public........................................................................................... 14

Objective 4.2: Operationalize a comprehensive data inventory for the agency............................... 15

Objective 4.3: Establish a process for external stakeholders to access non-public Department data 

for research purposes ............................................................................................................... 15

Objective 4.4: Enhance the Department’s process for approving information collections to improve 

data governance decisions and support the principles of FAIR and SEER ................................. 16

Objective 4.5: Develop a privacy playbook informed by the Department’s data lifecycle and provide 

technical assistance to data stewards....................................................................................... 16

The Road Ahead ........................................................................................................ 17

Appendix A. Relevant Laws, Regulations, and Guidance .............................................. 18

Appendix B. List of Acronyms .................................................................................... 19
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U.S. Department of Education Data Strategy

Message from the Chief Data Officer

Our nation’s future is grounded in education. By fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal 

access, the U.S. Department of Education prepares our population for civic engagement and global 

competitiveness. A more skilled and educated citizenry—effectively seeking information, discerning 

fact from rhetoric, and forming beliefs based on evidence—can engage in constructive debates over 

national policy, including those that shape our next generation of students. Education fuels creative 

and scientific innovation, which in turn powers economic growth and competitiveness in today’s 21st 

century global marketplace. The success of its mission requires the Department to become smarter and 

more adept at using data to guide investments and policy. 

Effectively leveraging data informs decisions in service of our nation’s learners, be it for daily agency 

operations or national policymaking. Rigorous evaluations identify effective programs, policies, and 

practices, and guide educational institutions in their efforts to improve student learning and outcomes. 

Machine learning and other advanced analytical techniques provide opportunities to create operational 

efficiencies and cost savings. Open and transparent data foster innovative research and bolster trust in 

agency operations by enabling citizens to hold government accountable. Carrying out these functions 

in service to our nation’s students requires accurate, useful, timely, and accessible data.

The Department Data Strategy—the first of its kind for the U.S. Department of Education—recognizes 

that we can, should, and will do more to improve student outcomes through more strategic use of data. 

I am grateful to the scores of dedicated career civil servants who contributed to its development, from 

front line staff and data professionals to agency executives. Diverse perspectives from every principal 

office across the agency were represented in its creation. Due in part to that diversity, this strategy 

builds on agency successes, avoids the mistakes of the past, and leverages the momentum and

opportunity from recent statutory authorities, advancements in technology, and heightened 

expectations for government performance. It addresses foundational and short-term challenges 

identified from across the agency, while thoughtfully charting a course for long-term data maturity.

The Department Data Strategy goals are highly interdependent with cross-cutting objectives requiring

a highly collaborative effort across the Department’s principal offices. It calls for strengthening data 

governance to administer the data it uses for operations, answer important questions, and meet legal 

requirements. To accelerate evidence-building and enhance operational performance, it requires that 

the Department make its data more interoperable and accessible for tasks ranging from routine 

reporting to advanced analytics. The high volume and evolving nature of the Department’s data tasks 

necessitate a focus on developing a workforce with skills commensurate with a modern data culture in a 

digital age. At the same time, safely and securely providing access for researchers and policymakers 

helps foster innovation and evidence-based decision making at the federal, state, and local levels.

The Department Data Strategy belongs to all those in the U.S. Department of Education, and we each 

must do our part to achieve its goals. Through a concerted effort to strengthen data governance, build 

human capacity to leverage data, advance the strategic use of data, and improve data access, 

transparency, and privacy, we can leverage education data as a strategic asset to deliver on mission and

support the foundations of democracy.

Gregory Fortelny

Chief Data Officer

U.S. Department of Education
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U.S. Department of Education Data Strategy

Executive Summary

The U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) mission is to promote student achievement and 

preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. 

The Department pursues its mission by establishing policies and distributing corresponding funds, 

focusing national attention on key educational issues, prohibiting discrimination, ensuring equal access 

to education, and collecting and disseminating data on America's schools and supporting research on

evidence of effectiveness of education programs and practices. While these functions are at the 

Department’s core, there has not yet been a fully cohesive data-centered approach to supporting the 

agency’s mission. 

Data underpins digital modernization and is increasingly considered the currency of decision-making. 

The Department recognizes that a holistic point of view in adopting an agency-wide data strategy is 

increasingly necessary to effectively meet mission objectives and establishing funding priorities. Such a 

strategy treats data as an asset from which valuable insights can be derived — insights that can be used 

to inform policy, effectively steward taxpayer funds, and ultimately improve national education 

outcomes. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further drove home the need for an agency-wide approach

to data management, when the Department pivoted to meet rapidly changing data needs. The agency 

stood up new grant programs to meet the needs of students during these challenging times and shared 

information with the public on how the Department is supporting states and other grantees, in PK-12 

and in higher education. A cohesive agency-wide data strategy will further push the Department in

responding to current and future data needs in support of the agency’s mission. The Department Data 

Strategy describes an ambitious vision for accelerating progress toward being a data-driven 

organization. To achieve this vision the Department must understand, access, and connect agency 

data; strategically apply modern data science tools and techniques; aggressively cultivate data talent 

skills among Department staff; and apply and establish effective agency-wide data governance, data 

management, and data policy oversight. 

The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) and the Federal Data Strategy 

have put federal agencies on notice that data and evidence need to play a more prominent role in how 

the federal government functions. The Department named its first Chief Data Officer (CDO), identified 

existing initiatives to serve as the foundation for agency-wide efforts, and has begun its march forward 

under that broader mandate. The Department has contributed to the development of the Federal Data 

Strategy, created its own agency-wide Data Governance Board (DGB) comprised of senior leaders, 

completed an initial assessment of data maturity, and now looks forward with this inaugural 

Department of Education Data Strategy.

Summarized in Figure 1, the Department Data Strategy describes a vision, establishes strategic goals 

for advancing data capabilities, and envisions agency-wide outcomes. It establishes an ambitious vision 

as the point on the horizon: To realize the full potential of data to improve education outcomes and lead 

the nation in a new era of evidence-based policy insights and data-driven operations. This Departmentwide effort will include discussions across the agency about data priorities that will help improve data 

maturity and the Department’s capabilities to leverage data, operationalize and optimize data 

governance, and drive cultural change for the benefit of internal and external stakeholders. 
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U.S. Department of Education Data Strategy

Figure 1. The U.S. Department of Education Data Strategy forges a framework of interconnected goals and objectives that 

set a course for optimizing the Department’s ability to provide data and insights to internal and external stakeholders. 

Goals to strengthen agency-wide data governance and build human capacity to leverage data enable the 

Department to build the foundation of critical agency data governance components and promote a datacentric culture with right-skilled staff who can harness the power of the Department’s data. Goals to 

advance the strategic use of data and improve data access, transparency, and privacy focus the 

Department’s efforts to build capabilities to use data for better decision-making, safely meet 

transparency mandates, encourage research, and innovate with data. As a portfolio, these goals 

contribute to enhancing program operations and ultimately the Department’s data mission: To optimize 

the Department’s ability to provide trusted data and insights to internal and external stakeholders.

The Department Data Strategy is intended to be revisited on a regular basis — to balance the need for 

continuity, achievement, and taking stock of the evolving data and policy landscape. In developing its 

Data Strategy goals, the Department carefully considered current and anticipated business drivers, 

legislative and administration mandates, and other environmental factors to ensure alignment and 

proper execution. The Data Strategy must anticipate and proactively keep the Department on the 

leading edge of data management and data science practices. To lead in the area will require constant 

attentiveness and management agility so the Department can recognize and embrace new data best 

practices, advances in data science, opportunities for greater interoperability and open government to 

better serve all its stakeholders. With progress toward this end, the Department will be well on its way 

to achieving its data vision to lead the nation in a new era of evidence-based policymaking and insight, 

and to the greater benefit of improving education outcomes.
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U.S. Department of Education Data Strategy

Vision, Mission and Guiding Principles

The U.S. Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for 

global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. To realize the 

full potential of data, the Department will need 

leadership committed to the transformation to a 

future of new capabilities, where data truly drive 

agency policy and operations. The Department 

seeks to evolve a data-centric organization and 

culture commensurate with its role as a steward 

entrusted with the public’s data. 

The Department Data Strategy is aligned to the 

Department’s mission and broader strategic 

planning. With its own vision, mission, and 

principles, the Department Data Strategy sets an 

ambitious course for the future, establishes the 

present focus, and provides the guard rails for the 

road ahead. The Department Data Strategy mission 

brings near-term specificity to its vision. It is focused 

on optimizing data capabilities both internal to its 

operations and external to its data partners who 

include other federal agencies, state and local 

education agencies, researchers, academic 

institutions, and the public. 

The Department has fully adopted and adapted the 

Federal Data Strategy guiding principles and is 

incorporating them into its operations and implementation of the Department Data Strategy. The 

guiding principles of ethical governance, conscious design, and a strong learning culture underpin all 

the goals and objectives under this Data Strategy. The Department takes these values seriously and 

intends to continually self-assess to ensure that activities under its Data Strategy align with these 

principles. 

Figure 2. The Department’s Data Strategy

Vision, Mission and Guiding Principles.
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GUIDING PRINCIPLES

ETHICAL GOVERNANCE

• Uphold Ethics: Monitor and assess the implications of the Department’s data practices. Design 

checks and balances to protect and serve the education community. 

• Exercise Responsibility: Practice effective data stewardship and governance. Employ sound data

security practices, protect individual privacy, maintain promised confidentiality, and ensure 

appropriate access and use. 

• Promote Transparency: Articulate the purposes and uses of the Department’s data to engender public 

trust. Comprehensively document processes and products to inform data providers and users. 

CONSCIOUS DESIGN

• Ensure Relevance: Protect the quality and integrity of the data. Validate that data are appropriate, 

accurate, objective, accessible, useful, understandable, and timely. 

• Harness Existing Data: Identify data needs to inform priority research and policy questions; reuse 

data if possible and acquire additional data if needed. 

• Anticipate Future Uses: Create data thoughtfully, considering fitness for use by others; plan for reuse 

and build in interoperability and data standards from the start. 

• Demonstrate Responsiveness: Improve data collection, analysis, and dissemination with ongoing

input from users and stakeholders. The feedback process is cyclical; establish a baseline, gain 

support, collaborate, and refine continuously. 

LEARNING CULTURE

• Invest in a Data Culture: Promote a culture of continuous and collaborative learning with and about 

data through ongoing investment in data infrastructure and human resources. 

• Develop Data Leaders: Cultivate data leadership at all levels of the Department’s workforce by 

investing in training and development about the value of data for mission, service, and the public 

good. 

• Practice Accountability: Assign responsibility, audit data practices, document and learn from results, 

and make needed changes.

Figure 3. The Department’s key principles around data.

Data Strategy Goals

In the last year, the Department has undertaken a significant effort to understand the data landscape

and develop the inputs for its Data Strategy. Led by the Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO), the 

Department inventoried current data challenges, conducted its first agency-wide data maturity 

assessment, and collaboratively took stock of organizational data strengths and weaknesses.

Throughout this exploration, key themes arose and provided context for goal development. One core 

theme that surfaced was the need for agency-wide data governance processes and initiatives that 

would serve as the framework and foundation on which all other elements of the Department’s Data 

Strategy would be built. The other core theme that emerged focused on supporting the Department’s

people, emphasizing learning and skill development to further enable and support the other elements 

of the Data Strategy. 
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The Strategy addresses new and emerging mandates such as open data by default, interagency data 

sharing, data standardization and other principles found in the Evidence Act and Federal Data Strategy. 

However, improving strategic data management has benefits far beyond compliance; solving persistent 

data challenges and making progress against a baseline data maturity assessment offers the 

Department the opportunity to close capability gaps and enable staff to make evidence-based 

decisions. The Department has therefore identified four strategic goals around data. These goals are 

broad and represent core components of the Department Data Strategy. The interconnected goals are 

comprised of objectives, each designed to be meaningfully achievable within the two-year time horizon 

of the Department Data Strategy. 

Figure 4. The Department Data Strategy includes four interconnected goals. 

Goal 1. Strengthen agency-wide data governance

Data governance is the organizing framework for establishing strategies, objectives, and policies for 

effectively managing data. The Department requires sound data governance processes to administer 

the data it uses for operations, answer important questions, and meet legal and ethical requirements. 

Public trust is paramount and data governance must support transparency while protecting privacy and 

confidentiality. 

The Department Data Strategy recognizes the strategic and critical need for consistent governance and 

management of the Department’s data assets. This goal seeks to strengthen data governance by 

establishing and evolving foundational data governance processes across the agency and within the 

respective principal offices. It seeks to improve coordination and planning of agency-wide data 

initiatives and mandates and provide mechanisms for escalating data policy issues and ensuring holistic 

strategies for resolution. Importantly, it also places an emphasis on elevating data maturity across the 

organization by placing focus on developing coordinated processes for data management and 

oversight. 

Objective 1.1: Implement a new data governance program to evolve 

structures, policies, and procedures

Each of the objectives under this goal are critical to the overall success of the Department Data 

Strategy but none more so than Objective 1.1. The Department will need a strong data governance 

program to make progress on the other objectives in this Data Strategy and better connect data 

governance with broader organizational governance. The Department will develop a holistic agencywide framework with established data governance structures, functions, roles, policies, and procedures. 
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The Department has mature governance bodies and the connections between new and existing bodies 

must be strengthened to support effective data management within and across the agency’s principal 

offices. 

The Department’s data governance will occur at three primary levels. The Data Governance Board 

(DGB) is central to the strategic level that will form agency-wide data policy, develop strategy, and set 

relevant priorities. Coordination is inherent at the tactical level, where the Department will evolve 

existing cross-office data management structures to help execute various applications, programs, and 

projects that impact data in one or more offices across the Department. The execution level 

encompasses the daily activities of the agency, with changes to operational data governed by the 

Department’s data stewards and other staff within principal offices. Enhancements to agency data 

governance will connect existing organizations and create pathways for data-related decision-making, 

establishing common data management processes, resolving shared data challenges, and enabling

data governance across the agency. 

During Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, the Department will improve the structure for agency data governance by: 

identifying the various governance entities across the organization that impact data or that should 

consider how changes to data may impact others; comparing their purposes and functions; and 

addressing potential overlaps and gaps as they relate to the governance of data assets. The agency’s 

data governance framework will include policies, procedures, and constructs in support of collaborative 

decision-making that will enable execution across these interconnected governance bodies. The 

governance structures solidified under this objective will be leveraged by the work under each of the 

other objectives of this strategy, helping to ensure optimal implementation of the rest of this Data 

Strategy and the sustainability of these efforts. 

Objective 1.2: Develop and implement a data policy framework around a 

formalized data management lifecycle

Establishing a unified policy framework promotes clear and consistent communication around data

management policy and enables the use of a common language. The Department will develop a policy 

framework around a data lifecycle and establish supporting policies and procedures for guiding data 

management throughout the data lifecycle. 

The common data policy framework developed under this objective is foundational to the

Department’s data governance function. As such, it will be established in the first half of FY 2021 to

support and inform processes for achieving data governance design in Objective 1.1. Moreover, it will 

enable data literacy within the agency (Objective 2.2) by helping data stewards and staff at all levels 

communicate about data management. This framework will be woven through the implementation of 

activities under all the Data Strategy goals and objectives. 

Objective 1.3: Develop and implement a data investment management 

process 

At present, the Department does not have a process specific to the approval of data investments. The 

Department’s current investment management processes do not distinguish data investments as a type 

or portfolio. Data investments are approved through multiple separate processes on a case-by-case 

basis, without an understanding of how any particular data-related project fits in the broader context of 
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the Department’s data-related initiatives and priorities. Further, much Department data are managed 

in silos, leading to unmanaged data redundancies across multiple segments, obstacles to joining data 

to answer crosscutting questions, and other inefficiencies.

By FY 2022, the Department will review the current investment approval processes and develop an 

inventory of data-related projects. This effort seeks to identify efficiencies by incorporating the 

approval of data-related projects into existing processes including capital planning for acquisition, 

administration, and disposal of data, as well as intersections with IT and human-capital investment 

processes. Success with this objective would ensure that data-related projects align with Departmentwide data priorities and increase efficiencies by identifying and mitigating potentially redundant or less 

effective initiatives.

Objective 1.4: Formalize principal operating component data 

management functions and advance the maturity of those functions

The formation of the Data Governance Board created an agency-wide data governance body to set the 

Department’s governance policies. However, the Department’s first data maturity assessment revealed 

a gap in its data governance structure – namely that many principal offices do not have an efficient way 

to implement agency-wide data-related policies. Objective 1.1 addresses how the Department’s data

governance will occur strategically, tactically, and operationally. Formalizing the data management 

function at the principal office level will support tactical and operational implementation of data 

governance policies by enabling cohesive communication and implementation of agency-level policies 

in those offices, clarifying data management roles and responsibilities at both the agency and principal 

office levels, and generally building principal office data management capacity. 

By creating a community of principal office data stewards in FY 2021, the agency will be able to

effectively scope, plan, and resource data management activities in a sustainable way, while aligning

with agency-level priorities and policies. This community of data stewards will develop strong principaloffice leadership and cultivate a shared stakeholder approach to data management roles and 

responsibilities. Providing structure for the principal-office data management function will help 

respective offices achieve their local mission by promoting consistency in how data are managed, 

improving data maturity, and providing clear channels of communication for sharing agency-level 

policies, successful practices, and lessons learned. 

Objective 1.5: Implement a cohesive data quality approach for the 

agency, leveraging best practices, technical assistance, and controls

The Department’s data quality approach defines how the agency will improve the quality of its data to 

improve user confidence and support better decision-making. The Department’s ability to follow up on 

data quality anomalies is constrained by resource availability, and most current control processes 

address data quality at the point data are submitted. There are opportunities to develop controls

throughout the data lifecycle. 

By the end of FY 2022, the Department seeks to improve its data quality process by implementing a 

comprehensive data quality approach for the agency, throughout the data lifecycle. The Department 

will incorporate mechanisms for evaluating, preventing, and remediating data irregularities where 

possible to assure higher quality data for the agency to use in meeting its mission and strategic 
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objectives. Specifically, the Department will develop a data quality playbook to clarify data quality roles 

and responsibilities and build staff capacity to understand and address quality issues. The playbook will 

address how to help grantees assess and improve data quality before submission, propose meaningful

incentives for data submitters, strengthen communication strategies, and propose ways to reduce the 

burden on both Department staff and grantees. The playbook will provide guidance for strengthening

the agency’s data quality standards to reduce data quality issues and improve data interoperability. It 

will also build common language for discussing data quality with internal and external stakeholders and 

provide recommendations for handling common irregularities. Developing common processes and best 

practices will help increase efficiencies and reduce burdens on principal offices. 

Goal 2. Build human capacity to leverage data 

Staff across the Department need to understand, use, and analyze data to meet programmatic, 

research, and operational needs. Under this goal, the Department will build human capacity to leverage 

data by building a workforce that can harness the power of data. 

The high volume and evolving nature of the Department’s data management tasks, coupled with new 

requirements under the Evidence Act, means that the Department must focus on building staff with 

data skills commensurate with a modern data culture. This goal includes raising the data literacy of all 

staff, upskilling and training staff, and distinguishing roles and requirements for data professionals and 

other staff who need data skills to meet their mission. A cohesive plan for meeting human capital needs 

will yield a workforce that is better equipped to use data to make decisions and better prepared with 

the skills to make progress on other objectives included in this Data Strategy. 

Objective 2.1: Develop a data workforce plan that identifies goals, gaps, 

and strategies 

In the past, the Department had taken a more ad hoc approach to human-capital data needs. Beginning 

in FY 2021, the Department seeks to better align its workforce with its data needs by ascertaining 

appropriate staffing levels, identifying training needs, and making succession planning a top priority. 

After assessing the current organization and defining the desired end state for the Department’s overall 

workforce as it relates to data, the Department will conduct a workforce gap analysis to first determine 

the type and level of data expertise principal offices need and then develop strategies to close priority 

workforce gaps by building competencies. Examples of strategies may include hiring, training, 

restructuring, leveraging automation or streamlining processes, contracting, detailing staff from within 

or outside of the Department, or partnering with other agencies. 

A well-equipped workforce uses data to make decisions and improve service quality and 

responsiveness. Through the data workforce plan, the Department can better understand its needs, 

which will enable leaders across the Department to articulate where resources are needed most, make 

the comprehensive cases for staffing and training requests, and ensure continuity and consistency 

across the data workforce. 
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Objective 2.2: Develop and implement a data literacy program to ensure 

all staff can speak information and data

The drive to build a data-centric culture creates the impetus for the Department to build capacity, both 

for staff who work primarily in data management or data science as well as within the overall

Department workforce. A common language and toolset regarding data will help all staff identify new 

ways to use data to inform decision-making. 

Ten years ago, data analysis and use at the Department fell primarily to data professionals, but data 

skills are needed today for all leaders and staff to make well-informed decisions in day-to-day

operations, make policy, or monitor grants. The activities under this objective will create a shared data 

language to help staff improve how they use the Department’s data, in turn aiding them to correctly 

source data for its intended purpose, effectively read and interpret data insights and visualizations, and 

better recognize opportunities for data sharing and collaboration. 

During FY 2021, the Department will develop a data literacy program that presents a clear case for 

change and a blueprint to begin the shift to a data-centric culture. The program will identify needs for

staff who require data skills, document existing resources and gaps, and identify and repurpose 

internally and externally available training and support activities to close gaps. This program will 

present a key opportunity for staff growth and have a meaningful impact on staff capacity to address 

other parts of this Data Strategy. 

Objective 2.3: Establish clear career paths and training curriculums for 

data professionals

Objectives 2.2 and 2.3 have been designed to work together to build the capacity for data-related work

for all Department staff. While Objective 2.2 focuses on the broader Department workforce, Objective 

2.3 focuses on the more specialized and technical roles and skills of the data professional. Skilled data 

professionals bring depth to analysis and decision making via data visualization, advanced analytics, and 

data management. They also possess a broader awareness of, and experience in, infrastructure design, 

cloud computing, and data warehousing. 

To date, the Department’s efforts in building data management and data science capacities have been 

driven by immediate needs and have been concentrated in pockets within the Department. This 

reactive, ad-hoc approach has created challenges for succession planning and knowledge transfer for 

data professionals. Advancing the Department’s capacity and data skills will improve employee 

retention, increase knowledge transfer, and help staff better leverage data as a strategic asset. 

By FY 2022, the Department will take an agency-wide approach to building data management and 

analytics capacities, including providing training and other skill development. The Department will 

provide structure for its data professionals by identifying competencies and developing career paths. A 

properly positioned and equipped cadre of data professionals will position the Department to provide 

greater value to its many stakeholders and constituents, improving how it delivers on its mission. 
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Objective 2.4: Develop and implement a short-term data workforce 

staffing plan

While Objective 2.1 focuses on the development of a multi-year data workforce plan to outline the 

human capital needs related to data, the Department recognizes it also has immediate data-related 

human capital needs. This short-term objective focuses on filling known vacancies, supporting the 

pressing data coordination and collaboration needs and efforts among principal offices. 

In FY 2021, the Department will leverage creative staffing solutions, existing hiring flexibilities, and 

recruitment strategies to fulfill immediate workforce priorities. This objective will enable the 

Department to address short-term needs while building a longer-term strategy to attract, recruit, and 

retain the workforce of the future. The intent of this objective is to help bridge offices’ needs when 

current staff do not have the capacity (either in time or expertise), until more permanent solutions can 

be determined, and with consideration to how near-term hires can help fulfill the long-term strategy. 

Goal 3. Advance the strategic use of data

The Department’s strategic use of data depends on its ability to leverage insights from data and 

analytics to drive better policy, program, and operational decision-making. Key evidence may come 

from a variety of sources, including data internal to the Department, data sourced from states and 

other grantees, and data from other agencies and institutions. Highlighting dependencies across goals, 

success requires improving access to data while maintaining quality and confidentiality. 

This goal seeks to improve the Department’s strategic use of data to support and communicate 

program insights, program evaluation and operational management. The Department must be able to 

connect fragmented data from disparate sources if it is to successfully answer its most critical questions 

and effectively tell its own and grantees’ stories. Moreover, because the Department is primarily a 

grantmaking organization, priorities under this goal will also strengthen grant programs’ performance 

and accountability measures and help ensure that pending updates to the Department’s grant 

management system ensure that data are accessible and effectively support decision processes. 

Objective 3.1: Identify and deliver data needed to complete the agency's 

Learning Agenda

The Department’s Learning Agenda, required under the Evidence Act, will outline critical questions 

relevant to the programs, policies, and regulations of the Department that, if answered, will make it 

better able to meet its mission and strategic goals. Activities under this objective support the execution 

of work called for in the Learning Agenda by piloting an approach for identifying the data needed to 

address the Department’s priority questions and then making it available for analysis. The Department 

will do this in FY 2021 by developing a common template that, for a given priority learning question, 

details the data generally required to address a question; key data stakeholders; potential analytic 

approaches and the specific data requirements associated with each approach; an assessment of the 

accessibility of the required data; preliminary steps associated with securing the data needed each 

approach; and a timeline for data access. 
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Realizing this objective will accelerate the Department’s achievement of goals and strategic objectives 

identified in its Strategic Plan; support execution against the Department’s Learning Agenda; build 

agency-wide coalitions for surfacing priority learning questions; and test approaches to securing data, 

within and beyond the agency, needed to address priority learning questions. Given the impact COVID19 has had on every facet of education in 2020, the Department anticipates that questions related to

COVID-19 may be included as priority learning questions in the future. 

Objective 3.2: Identify prioritized use cases and initiate an agency data 

analytics platform

Like many other agencies and organizations, the Department’s individual data systems and structures 

have been developed over time in response to specific needs. While decisions about the data 

architecture were made based on the best information and data management practices of the time, 

they have resulted in fragmented data sources that make it challenging for staff to connect data to 

answer cross-cutting agency questions. The data analytics platform initiated under this objective in FY

2021 will support Department-wide data access, analysis and reporting. 

This platform will ultimately provide an accessible, trusted source for the Department’s data assets 

from across the agency, including raw data, cleansed data, and data with privacy protections. It will 

foster data literacy and data science by providing staff with self-service business intelligence and 

analytic tools. The platform will provide a means for developing useful and easily accessible executive 

reports and democratized data dashboards. It will provide easy access to tools for data manipulation, 

statistical analysis, shared libraries, and code management, and will build on early successes in the 

Department to develop and deploy local machine learning and other advanced solutions. It will also 

enable the Department’s data professionals to leverage code management and agile practices to 

accelerate adoption and deployment of analytics and automation. 

Objective 3.3: Integrate data visualization and storytelling into priority 

communications and Department culture

With this objective, the Department seeks to improve how it shares and communicates its data, 

infusing it with meaning through visual stories to improve understanding and elevate insights. The 

Department wants internal and external stakeholders to be able to access and explore its data and it 

wants to weave important data stories into its own communications. 

By the end of FY 2021, the Department will increase its capacity to use data visualizations by identifying 

and prioritizing topics for data visualization, advancing cross-functional trainings in data visualization, 

and initiating internal data visualization and storytelling competitions. Success with this objective will 

improve policy and other communications with external stakeholders by leveraging the power of data, 

and support development of insights for more effective internal communications as well. Further, the 

internal data-visualization competitions will support other strategic objectives, such as data literacy, by 

promoting cross-functional skill building and collaboration with data. 
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Objective 3.4: Improve the development, reporting, and use of agency 

programs' performance and accountability measures

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires federal agencies to establish standards 

measuring their performance and effectiveness. Congress uses these standards to help guide 

budgetary decisions. The GPRA reporting process is intended to evaluate program effectiveness and 

help support improvements to grant monitoring, inherent in the Department’s Learning Agenda. 

However, to date, there has not been a clear process to update those GPRA measures that are no 

longer meeting program needs and, generally, updating measures is burdensome and time consuming. 

In some cases, addressing data quality issues and insufficient capacity for analysis have turned the 

GPRA reporting process into a compliance exercise. The Department is in the process of developing and 

sharing a new set of tools for GPRA, including piloting those tools to assess and improve processes. 

These tools will help ensure that programs’ performance measures assess what is most important and 

that program staff can better analyze the data they receive. 

By the end of FY 2021, the Department will draft a framework for reviewing performance measures, 

incorporating budget guidance to programs; create a data quality review checklist for performance 

measures; identify GPRA measures that may be made common across programs; and deploy an 

agency-wide process for all measures. Revamping the process for GPRA development, measurement 

and reporting will improve the collection, quality, analysis, value and use of performance data. 

Outcomes will provide program staff with useful data points for grant monitoring and provide 

opportunities for additional grantee technical assistance.

Objective 3.5: Ensure modernization of the Department’s grant 

management system meets statutory data requirements and supports 

strategic data use

One of the Department’s core functions is to distribute and manage public funds in the form of grants 

to support the nation’s students. The Department’s grants management system, known as G5,

supports the agency’s full grantmaking lifecycle and associated business processes. In addition to 

ensuring proper funds control for the Department’s $60+ billion grant portfolio, G5 is used by 

Department staff to run grant competitions and make awards, monitor grantees for compliance and 

performance, make continuation funding available to grantees, and close out grants at the end of 

performance periods. The current system was developed prior to the use of modern data management

best practices and some of its functionality is cumbersome to use. For example, grantees currently 

submit the bulk of their data in a PDF format, making it difficult for staff to readily access, manage, use, 

or analyze data within the system in support of their grant monitoring activities. 

As the Department begins to develop a solution for modernizing its grants management system, it will

ensure that the new system meets statutory data requirements, such as those in the Evidence Act that 

require data collection mechanisms to support machine-readable open data, and the evolving needs of 

data users, including the ability to easily conduct data analyses. The next iteration of the system must

support the Data Strategy objectives under the goals that advance the strategic use of data (Goal 3) and 

improve access, transparency, and privacy (Goal 4). Doing so will help staff make better use of grantee 

data to monitor grants, answer cross-cutting questions in the Department’s Learning Agenda, and 

provide optimal technical assistance to improve grant outcomes. Generally, success will improve grants 
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data access and transparency. The Department anticipates building out requirements in support of this 

objective by FY 2022, with modular implementation of the new system slated for FY 2022 and 

subsequent years. 

Goal 4. Improve data access, transparency, and privacy

Improving access to Department data, while maintaining its quality and confidentiality, is key to 

expanding the agency’s ability to generate evidence to inform policy and program decisions. Increasing 

access to data for Department staff, federal, state, and local lawmakers, and researchers can help the 

Department to make new connections and foster evidence-based decision making. Increasing access 

can also spur innovations that support the Department’s stakeholders and help taxpayers reference 

data on the programs and initiatives that their tax dollars fund. While the Department has strived for 

increased transparency in recent years, there is still considerable room for improvement. The Evidence 

Act mandates that all data be “open by default,” meaning data are machine readable and can be freely 

used, reused, and redistributed by anyone. Adherence will require changes to policies, practices, and 

technologies. Increasing access to and use of the Department’s data will require navigating legislative 

requirements and applying protocols designed to protect the privacy and confidentiality of individuals. 

The Department seeks to improve on user access by ensuring that released data are in machine 

readable format and accessible via the Department’s comprehensive data inventory. The Department 

will better leverage expertise in the field to expand the Department’s base of evidence by establishing a 

process for researchers to access non-public Department data. Further, the Department will develop a 

cohesive and consistent approach to privacy and enhance information collection processes to ensure 

that Department data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. 

Objective 4.1: Develop and implement an Open Data Plan that describes 

the Department’s efforts to make its data open to the public

To meet the requirements of the Evidence Act, Department data must be “open by default.” The 

Department is now required to release far more data than it has in the past and must determine how 

best to do that. Making data accessible is burdensome for the Department, and some data that might

be shared have not yet been. In addition, processes for accessing data can be burdensome for internal 

and external stakeholders, including the public, other agencies, and Department staff. 

Not to be confused with prior Open Government Plans, the Open Data Plan required under the 

Evidence Act and developed under this objective will be completed in FY 2021. Enabling researchers 

and citizen data scientists to use the Department’s data to conduct their own analyses will support 

collaboration with external stakeholders, expand the Department’s evidence base, and increase public 

accountability for the Department’s work. In 2021 and beyond, this access will be particularly valuable 

in understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the educational landscape and on students; there is a 

critical need to quickly build that evidence base and leverage the work of external stakeholders. Results 

will improve how policies are measured, increase government efficiency, enable deeper analytical 

insights, strengthen citizen participation, and boost education outcomes. 
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Objective 4.2: Operationalize a comprehensive data inventory for the 

agency

The Department’s Open Data Platform, a central repository for its data assets, is a fully featured, 

robust, and highly scalable data repository that maintains public data assets in a fully searchable 

catalog. As required by the Evidence Act, during FY 2021, the Department will build toward a 

comprehensive data inventory by expanding on the current Open Data Platform and previous inventory 

efforts. The Department will continue to catalog data assets for both external open data and internal 

sources, subject to priorities in the Open Data Plan, and incrementally expand the number of 

Department data assets listed in the Federal Data Catalog. 

In addition to meeting mandates, this comprehensive data inventory will enable a single lens into all the 

Department’s data, including internal and publicly available data. A complete data inventory will inform 

strategies for reducing redundancies, reveal ways for joining data to answer cross-cutting questions in 

the Learning Agenda, and lend insight into opportunities for streamlining the data the Department 

collects and maintains. Objective 4.2 also provides a means for informing the process for reviewing and 

approving the information collection request process, introduced in Objective 4.4. As part of Objective

4.2, the Department will also review and improve upon its data release process. 

Objective 4.3: Establish a process for external stakeholders to access nonpublic Department data for research purposes

As articulated in the introduction to this goal, the Evidence Act requires federal agencies to make all 

data open by default, with consideration to risks and restrictions related to the disclosure of personally 

identifiable information (PII) and data security. Related, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 

(FERPA) prohibits the Department from making specific data publicly available, instead allowing access 

only to those stakeholders who have specific access rights, such as Congress, OMB, employees from 

other federal agencies or individuals conducting studies. The Privacy Act of 1974 establishes a code of 

fair information practices that governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of 

information about individuals that is maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. 

The Department’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has a means for providing appropriate access to

PII and secure data through localized processes. However, the Department has not yet established a 

single Department solution for providing similar access to broader Department data, such as those 

stewarded by the Office of Federal Student Aid, and subsequently building a research base that could 

help inform the Department’s Learning Agenda, agency operations, or insights into the effectiveness of 

Department programs. To protect PII, much of the Department’s publicly shared data are currently 

shared only in the aggregate, limiting the extent to which studies or evaluations can draw conclusions. 

In response, during FY2021, the Department will develop a research-proposal review process, a 

technical assistance framework, and an additional tier of access. 

Outcomes from Objective 4.3 will help build evidence for policymaking and support the Department’s 

Learning Agenda (Objective 3.1). Sharing analysis that incorporates non-public data can allow the 

Department and other stakeholders to leverage and build on each other’s work. Access can help

researchers build evidence in areas of interest to the agency, including answering key questions in the 

Department’s Learning Agenda (Objective 3.1), perhaps at little or no cost. A new tier of access and the 

research it enables will be especially critical in timely and urgent issues such as those related to COVID-
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19. Further, achieving this objective will help create transparency, fundamental for building trust with

the public and other stakeholders.

Objective 4.4: Enhance the Department’s process for approving 

information collections to improve data governance decisions and 

support the principles of FAIR and SEER

Internal and external stakeholders regularly use the Department’s data collections when researching

questions, testing hypotheses, and evaluating outcomes related to Department programs. OMB 

approves the Department’s data collections via the Department’s information collection request (ICR) 

process, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; however, the ICR process has not 

historically been managed as a strategic data function. ICRs are evaluated for the burden the data 

collection might impose, but more specific attention should also be given cost-value trade-offs and how 

collected data will be used, stored, and leveraged. In response, this objective seeks to help the 

Department address the needs of the Department’s management, its data stewards, and its external 

stakeholders, and align the ICR process with broader data governance decisions. 

This objective will also help the Department’s information collections conform to two key principles: 

FAIR1 (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-usable) and SEER2 (Standards for Excellence in 

Education Research), which encourage researchers to plan and conduct studies that focus on 

outcomes; share findings, methods, and data; and support and facilitate generalization and scaling, as 

appropriate. 

During FY 2021, the Department will evaluate related processes, identify additional guidance to help

data stewards adhere to best practices during the definition and design of information collections, and 

improve technical assistance for data collection processes. Outcomes should significantly contribute to 

the usability and usefulness of the Department’s data collections by advancing design thinking toward 

the earliest phases of work to reduce re-work or the production of data that has lesser value. 

Objective 4.5: Develop a privacy playbook informed by the Department’s

data lifecycle and provide technical assistance to data stewards 

In a digital age where data sharing is a necessity and bad actors are increasingly sophisticated and 

motivated, there is an ever-growing need to ensure privacy protections are addressed. The Department 

has staff with expertise to ensure privacy needs are met and data are properly handled, including 

consent, notice, and regulatory obligations; however, the Department now needs to reassess its 

processes in light of new requirements under the Evidence Act. 

By the end of FY 2021, the Department’s Senior Agency Official for Privacy (SAOP) will conduct a gap 

assessment across the Department’s newly created data lifecycle, reviewing current processes and 

policies to identify privacy gaps. To support the gap assessment, the SAOP will convene a working 

group consisting of stakeholders, including stakeholders from principal offices that act as data 

stewards. The working group will be tasked with understanding and documenting privacy challenges, 

risks, and concerns throughout the Department. By the end of FY 2022, the working group will make 

1 For more on FAIR principles, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4792175/ 2 For more on SEER principles, see https://ies.ed.gov/seer/index.asp. 
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recommendations to the SAOP for the development of a privacy playbook consistent with the data 

lifecycle framework. 

Success with this objective will help the Department to effectively protect privacy and personal data 

throughout the data lifecycle, protecting students, Department employees, and the public.

The Road Ahead

The Department Data Strategy vision sets a bold direction and asks much of Department staff and 

executive leadership. Progress toward the vision requires building on existing successes while also

changing the way business is done and adapting to change. This Data Strategy reaches all aspects of 

Department operations, incrementally requiring new views of data management crossing traditional 

organizational and program boundaries. 

The Department engaged its internal stakeholders throughout the development of this Data Strategy; 

staff from across the Department have brought their diverse perspectives and contributed significantly 

to its development. The resulting strategy addresses foundational and short-term challenges identified 

from across the agency, while thoughtfully charting a course to improved overall data maturity. The 

Department Data Strategy goals are highly interdependent with cross-cutting objectives. Managing 

these interdependencies across the Department’s many principal offices will be a critical aspect of 

execution. To this end, this Data Strategy contemplates a highly collaborative effort requiring principal 

offices to work together to ensure practicality, proper planning, coordinated implementation and good 

communication. Progress against these objectives and ultimately the achievement of the four strategic 

goals will depend on maintaining that high-level of collaboration.

Effective tactical implementation of the Department Data Strategy is the joint responsibility of the 

Office of the Chief Data Officer (OCDO) and the Data Governance Board (DGB), requiring sustained 

management oversight to ensure accountability, coordination, and communication. The Department 

will leverage this executive oversight and collaboration to maintain the Data Strategy tie to the overall 

business strategy. This oversight will also place a cross organizational focus on data and drive how the 

Department uses data to drive innovation, continuous improvement, and effective decision-making. 

The Department will revisit the overall Department Data Strategy goals on at least a two-year cycle to

take stock of the evolving data, operations, and policy landscape. This cycle provides enough time to 

plan and launch new objectives, and to evaluate success against expected outcomes. As necessary, the 

Department will adjust the Department Data Strategy goals, objectives, and corresponding metrics to 

maintain overall alignment with the overall Department vision and mission. The Department will also 

measure success against its organization wide data maturity model with ongoing assessments. As gaps 

are identified, OCDO and the DGB will work to identify strategies for closing gaps and advancing 

agency-wide data maturity as part of overall Department Data Strategy. 
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Appendix A. Relevant Laws, Regulations, and Guidance

LAWS, REGULATIONS, 

AND GUIDANCE DESCRIPTION 

Evidence Act or H.R.4174 -

Foundations for EvidenceBased Policymaking Act of 

2018

Requires agency data to be accessible and that agencies plan to develop statistical 

evidence to support policymaking. For more, please see 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4174. 

Family Educational Rights 

and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 

U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 

99)

A federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law 

applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. 

Department of Education. For more, please see 

https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html. 

Government Performance 

and Results Act (GPRA)

(1993, 2010)

Enacted in 1993, requires federal agencies to establish standards measuring their 

performance and effectiveness. Congress uses these standards to help guide 

budgetary decisions.

GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 - (Sec. 2) amends the Government Performance 

and Results Act of 1993 to require each executive agency to make its strategic plan 

available on its public website and to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

on the first Monday in February of any year following that in which the term of the 

President commences and to notify the President and Congress. For more, please 

see https://www.congress.gov/111/plaws/publ352/PLAW-111publ352.pdf. 

Privacy Act of 1974 Establishes a code of fair information practices that governs the collection, 

maintenance, use, and dissemination of information about individuals that is 

maintained in systems of records by federal agencies. For more, please see 

https://www.justice.gov/opcl/privacy-act-1974. 
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Appendix B. List of Acronyms

ACRONYM DEFINITION

CDO Chief Data Officer

DGB Data Governance Board

FAIR Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-usable

FDS Federal Data Strategy

FY Fiscal Year

G5 The Department’s grants management system, known as G5, supports the agency’s full 

grantmaking lifecycle and associated business processes.

ICR Information collection request

IES Institute of Education Sciences

OCDO Office of the Chief Data Officer

PII Personally identifiable information

Principal 

Office

Refers to the Department’s respective principal operating components (POC). For more on the 

Department’s coordinating structure and about descriptions of offices' roles and functions, please 

see https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/or/index.html. 

SAOP Senior Agency Official for Privacy

SEER Standards for Excellence in Education Research