Public elementary and secondary schools had 49.4 million students enrolled in the 2009-10 school year (Institute of Education Sciences, 2011). In the same year, approximately 21.5 million students were enrolled in public post-secondary schools. Institutions receiving public funds from the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) are subject to the FERPA (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99). FERPA is administered by the Family Policy Compliance Office of the U.S. Department of Education.
Under the precept of better decisions require better information, significant resources were provided to develop databases that house educational data and empower educators with data-driven decision-making capabilities. This is evidenced through the USDOE’s award of four rounds of statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) grants to U.S. states in 2006, 2007 and 2009 (two rounds were issued in 2009). Forty-one states and the District of Columbia received at least one grant to build a statewide longitudinal data system (Institute of Education Sciences, 2011). These systems were built in order to “efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education data, including individual student records” (Institute of Education Sciences, 2011).