CARSON CITY, NV –Governor Brian Sandoval has partnered with The Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force, Legislative Leadership, and Catamount Fund to sponsor a planning session for the Data Quality Campaign, to work with Nevada state policymakers and interested stakeholders to formulate a comprehensive plan for effective data use in Nevada’s educational system.

The planning session will explore the current state of Nevada’s data system and its capacity, what is possible for Nevada’s future, examples from leading states on how to best link and share data across agencies, information on state models and data governance structures, date privacy and security and tools and resources for Nevada’s education reform efforts.

The program is scheduled for Thursday, April 21, 2011 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Guinn Room of the Capitol Annex, on 101 N. Carson Street in Carson City, Nevada.

In addition to the program, the DQC will deliver formal testimony before the joint meeting of the Assembly Education Committee and Senate Education Committee today, Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 3:30 p.m. in Room 1214. Testimony was also given to a joint meeting of Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means this morning.

“I’ve long spoken about the need for education reform in our state as well as the need to increase accountability in the classroom,” Governor Sandoval said. “The use of data is integral to these reforms and I look forward to continued work in this area.”

“I applaud Nevada’s policymakers for bringing together education stakeholders to broaden the conversation about harnessing the power of data to ensure that every Nevadan graduates from high school ready for college and career,” stated Aimee Guidera, executive director of the Data Quality Campaign. “The barriers to using data to improve student achievement are not technical but political and cultural, so with the leadership demonstrated today, Nevada is poised to make significant progress toward collecting and using quality data to improve outcomes for students across the state.”

About the Data Quality Campaign and the Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force:

The Data Quality Campaign is a national, collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement. The campaign provides tools and resources that help states implement and use longitudinal data systems, while providing a national forum for reducing duplication of effort and promoting greater coordination and consensus among the organizations focused on improving data quality, access and use.

The Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force’s report, Nevada’s Promise, relied heavily on the DQC’s work, and the most recent report card for Nevada can be found at www.dataqualitycampaign.org/survey/states/NV.

Data Quality Campaign

Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force’s Report