I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 112 
To enable States to implement integrated statewide education longitudinal 
data systems. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2013 
Mr. HOLT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To enable States to implement integrated statewide education 
longitudinal data systems. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Measuring and Evalu-
ating Trends for Reliability, Integrity, and Continued Suc-
cess (METRICS) Act of 2013’’ or the ‘‘METRICS Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘elemen-
tary school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary 
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school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, and ‘‘State educational agen-
cy’’ have the meanings given the terms in section 
9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
(2) ALIGNED STATEWIDE EDUCATION LONGITU-
DINAL DATA SYSTEMS.—The term ‘‘aligned state-
wide education longitudinal data systems’’ means 
one or more statewide data systems that house and 
link the longitudinal data of individual students, in-
cluding such students’ early childhood, elementary 
school, secondary school, postsecondary education, 
and workforce data. 
(3) ELIGIBLE LOCAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligi-
ble local entity’’ means— 
(A) a high-need local educational agency; 
(B) a consortium of high-need local edu-
cational agencies; or 
(C) a high-need local educational agency or 
a consortium of high-need local educational 
agencies and an external partner. 
(4) ELIGIBLE STATE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligi-
ble State entity’’ means a State educational agency, 
which may partner with another public State agency, 
such as a State higher education agency, an early 
childhood agency, a State workforce agency, or a 
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multi-agency State group (such as a preschool 
through grade 20 (P–20) council). 
(5) EXTERNAL PARTNER.—The term ‘‘external 
partner’’ means an entity, such as a nonprofit orga-
nization, community-based organization, local edu-
cation fund, service organization, educational service 
agency, or institution of postsecondary education, 
that has demonstrated expertise and effectiveness in 
providing targeted support (such as data analysis, 
professional development, or the provision of non- 
academic support and integrated student services) to 
local educational agencies, schools, or students that 
leads to improved teaching, learning, and outcomes 
for students, including students who are failing to 
make sufficient progress to graduate in the standard 
number of years or students who have dropped out 
of secondary school. 
(6) HIGH-NEED
LOCAL
EDUCATIONAL
AGEN-
CY.—The term ‘‘high-need local educational agency’’ 
means a local educational agency— 
(A) that serves not less than 10,000 chil-
dren who are from families with incomes below 
the poverty line; or 
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(B) for which not less than 20 percent of 
the children served by such agency are from 
families with incomes below the poverty line. 
(7) POVERTY LINE.—The term ‘‘poverty line’’ 
means the poverty line (as defined and revised annu-
ally in accordance with section 673(2) of the Com-
munity Services Block Grant Act) applicable to a 
family of the size involved. 
SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE USE OF STATEWIDE LONGITU-
DINAL DATA SYSTEMS. 
(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From the funds appro-
priated under section 8 for a fiscal year, the Secretary 
shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible State 
entities to enable such eligible State entities to improve 
access to, sharing of, and use of education data to improve 
student outcomes. 
(b) DURATION.—Each grant awarded under this sec-
tion shall be for a period of not more than 5 years. 
(c) APPLICATIONS.— 
(1) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each eligible 
State entity that desires to receive a grant under 
this section shall submit an application to the Sec-
retary at such time, in such manner, and containing 
such information as the Secretary may reasonably 
require. Such application shall include the following: 
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(A) A list of State agencies whose coopera-
tion will be necessary for the implementation of 
the grant program, and an assurance of sup-
port from— 
(i) each such agency; 
(ii) the chief State school officer; 
(iii) the Governor of the State; and 
(iv) any other entity that will com-
prise the eligible State entity. 
(B) A description of the State’s status re-
lating to each priority activity described in sub-
section (e)(2), including— 
(i) a demonstration that the State has 
implemented the priority activity; 
(ii) a demonstration that the State 
has, at the time of the application, received 
funding from another source and made 
plans for the implementation of the pri-
ority activity; or 
(iii) a statement that the State has 
not, at the time of the application, imple-
mented, or received funds to implement, 
the priority activity. 
(C) For each priority activity whose status 
is categorized under subparagraph (B)(iii), a 
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description of how the eligible State entity plans 
to use grant funds under this section to carry 
out such activity. 
(D) A description of how the eligible State 
entity plans to use grant funds to carry out the 
permissible activities described in subsection 
(e)(3), if the eligible State entity— 
(i) categorizes the status of many of 
the priority activities described in sub-
section (e)(2) under clause (i) or (ii) of 
subparagraph (B); and 
(ii) anticipates the possibility of hav-
ing remaining grant funds after ensuring 
implementation of each priority activity de-
scribed under subsection (e)(2). 
(E) A description of how activities funded 
under the grant program will— 
(i) support the State’s policy and re-
form goals; 
(ii) support alignment between State 
and local data systems; and 
(iii) support coordination with, or 
alignment or advancement of, related ac-
tivities that are funded through other Fed-
eral programs, including such programs 
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under section 208 of the Educational 
Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 
U.S.C. 9607), the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 
111–5), the Race to the Top fund under 
section 14006 of such Act, including the 
Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge 
fund under sections 14005, 14006, and 
14013 of such Act (as amended by, and 
subject to the requirements of, section 
1832 of the Full-Year Continuing Appro-
priations Act, 2011 (Public Law 112–10)), 
and the Workforce Data Quality Initiative 
under section 171(c)(2) of the Workforce 
Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 
2916(c)(2)). 
(F) A budget that details how grant funds 
and other funding resources, including State 
and Federal funding, will be used to carry out 
the proposed activities. 
(G) An assurance of the State’s long-term 
financial commitment to— 
(i) 
implementing 
and 
supporting 
aligned statewide education longitudinal 
data systems; and 
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(ii) maintaining such systems after 
the end of the grant program. 
(H) A description of the indicators that 
the eligible State entity will use to determine— 
(i) if grant funds are being used effec-
tively; and 
(ii) the impact of grant funds on im-
proving teaching, learning, and student 
outcomes. 
(I) Any other information that the Sec-
retary may reasonably require. 
(2) FORM
OF
APPLICATION.—In establishing 
the application described under this subsection, the 
Secretary shall, where practicable, require each eligi-
ble State entity to provide a demonstration of the 
capabilities of any system that the eligible State en-
tity is, at the time of the application, using to track 
data, in lieu of a description of such capabilities. 
(d) AWARDING OF GRANTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In awarding grants under 
this section, the Secretary shall— 
(A) use a peer review process, as described 
in paragraph (2); 
(B) select applications that demonstrate 
technical quality, validity, and reliability; 
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(C) promote multi-state collaboration; and 
(D) ensure that applications protect stu-
dent and educator privacy, including through 
compliance with the requirements of Federal, 
State, and local privacy laws (including section 
444 of the General Education Provisions Act 
(commonly known as the ‘‘Family Educational 
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’) (20 U.S.C. 
1232g)). 
(2) PEER
REVIEW
PROCESS.—The Secretary 
shall award grants under this section through a peer 
review process that, to the extent practicable, in-
cludes— 
(A) educators; 
(B) users and consumers of statewide lon-
gitudinal data systems, including representa-
tives of State educational agencies; 
(C) individuals with demonstrated tech-
nical expertise in data system construction, in-
tegration, or implementation; and 
(D) representatives of business and the 
workforce. 
(3) COMPETITIVE
PRIORITIES.—In awarding 
grants under this section, the Secretary may give 
priority to eligible State entities that— 
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(A) propose to coordinate efforts with 
other State educational agencies; 
(B) propose to coordinate efforts with local 
educational agencies; and 
(C) fulfill other criteria relating to the pur-
poses of this section, as determined by the Sec-
retary. 
(e) USES OF FUNDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.— 
(A) REQUIREMENT RELATING TO PRIORITY 
ACTIVITIES.—Each eligible State entity shall 
use grant funds to carry out the priority activi-
ties described in paragraph (2), before such en-
tity may use any remaining funds to carry out 
the permissible activities described in paragraph 
(3). 
(B) EXCEPTION.—An eligible State entity 
is deemed to satisfy the requirements of para-
graph (1) if such entity demonstrates that the 
State has funding for, and has in place, or has 
developed and is implementing a plan that will 
result in the existence of, aligned statewide edu-
cation longitudinal data systems and related ac-
tivities that meet the requirements of para-
graph (2). 
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(2) PRIORITY
ACTIVITIES.—An eligible State 
entity receiving a grant under this section shall use 
grant funds to carry out the following activities: 
(A) Implementing aligned statewide edu-
cation longitudinal data systems that include 
the following: 
(i) With respect to preschool through 
grade 12 education and postsecondary edu-
cation— 
(I) a unique statewide student 
identifier that does not permit a stu-
dent to be individually identified by 
users of the system; 
(II) student-level enrollment, de-
mographic, and program participation 
information; 
(III) 
student-level 
information 
about the points at which students 
exit, transfer in, transfer out, drop 
out, or complete P–16 education pro-
grams; 
(IV) the capacity to communicate 
with higher education data systems; 
and 
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(V) a State data audit system as-
sessing data quality, validity, and reli-
ability. 
(ii) With respect to preschool through 
grade 12 education— 
(I) yearly test records of indi-
vidual students with respect to State 
assessments under section 1111(b)(3) 
of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
6311(b)(3)); 
(II) information on students not 
tested by grade and subject; 
(III) a teacher identifier system 
with the ability to match teachers to 
students; 
(IV) student-level transcript in-
formation, including information on 
courses completed and grades earned; 
and 
(V) student-level college readi-
ness test scores. 
(iii) With respect to postsecondary 
education, data that provide— 
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(I) information regarding the ex-
tent to which students transition suc-
cessfully from secondary school to 
postsecondary 
education, 
including 
whether students enroll in remedial 
coursework; and 
(II) other information determined 
necessary to address alignment and 
adequate preparation for success in 
postsecondary education. 
(B) Establishing inter- and intra-agency 
governance strategies that define policies and 
procedures for the collection, access, and use of 
education data. 
(C) Establishing and implementing com-
prehensive policies and procedures to protect 
the privacy, security, and confidentiality of stu-
dent and educator data, including— 
(i) justifying that data being collected, 
stored, and shared are necessary, useful, 
accurate, and valid; 
(ii) limiting access to personally iden-
tifiable information to necessary and ap-
propriate individuals; 
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(iii) protecting shared data from inap-
propriate use; 
(iv) implementing a data security 
framework (including regular and com-
prehensive training and professional devel-
opment) for the use, dissemination, stor-
age, and maintenance of data; 
(v) providing parental and public no-
tice about data collection, information 
about data policies, and information relat-
ing to the accessibility and use of data; 
(vi) ensuring compliance with the re-
quirements of Federal, State and local pri-
vacy laws, including section 444 of the 
General Education Provisions Act (com-
monly known as the ‘‘Family Educational 
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’) (20 
U.S.C. 1232g); and 
(vii) aligning data policies and proce-
dures with best practices for data steward-
ship, including best practices identified by 
the Secretary. 
(D) Establishing the capacity to link edu-
cation data with workforce data. 
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