Frameworks for a Federal Student-Level Data Network: Considerations for Using the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS)

As support continues to grow across the country and across the political spectrum for the federal student-level data network (SLDN) proposed in the College Transparency Act (CTA), IHEP partnered with AEM Education Services, with input from RTI International, to further build out a roadmap to support the implementation of the SLDN. "Frameworks for a Federal Student-Level Data Network: Considerations for Using the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS)" examines how the vocabulary, data models, and more than 550 postsecondary-specific elements already in the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) can streamline implementation of an SLDN, which would bridge the current gaps in data that currently exclude countless students and their outcomes from higher education decision-making. This brief builds on other research to facilitate the implementation of an SLDN that would finally deliver accurate, complete, and timely data on enrollment, completion, and post-college outcomes while staunchly protecting student privacy. The findings in this brief align with a series of convenings that RTI and IHEP have hosted over the past two years with experts across the field of higher education to support the modernization of the nation's postsecondary data system. Recommendations from those convenings have addressed measures and underlying data elements addressed in proposed legislation, institutional views on data submission, and financial aid. [This report was written with contributions from RTI International.]