SLDS    - Overview

In May of 2010, a Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) federal grant was awarded to the Colorado Department of Education (CDE).  The funds provided for under this grant support the Relevant Information to Strangthen Education (RISE) initiative. The focus of this initiative is on improving the capture and sharing of student data between educational institutions and state agencies/commissions, from pre-school and K-12 right through to post-secondary institutions, and on into the workforce.  The goal of the improved data sharing is to provide high quality relevant data in time to inform education-related decisions.

The SLDS Grant has three primary outcomes, Capture, Link and Provide.  Capture refers to the collection of all relevant forms of data from educational institutions, and the improved systems and methods used to do so.  The next outcome, Link, refers to the underlying architecture and design of the systems required to share data across institutions.  This could be from one educational institution to another, or could be from one agency to another.  The Link effort also will associate data with the right individuals, by providing a unique identifier that stays with each student.  The final outcome, Provide, offers a means to make the data available to all users, through web-based portals and other visualization tools for ease of understanding and usage.

CDE is responsible for the overall RISE initiative, and is performing the work for both Capture and Provide.  The Link outcome is being managed by the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT).  The full RISE program management team includes members of CDE and OIT, working together to bring all outcomes to a successful conclusion. 

Because there are many projects under the overall RISE umbrella, each project and outcome is managed by its own Project Manager.  For example, Capture is managed by Lisa Bradley in CDE, and Link is managed by Judy McMurphy in OIT.   Scott Lee, as the RISE Program Manager, manages the overall effort and ensures that all supporting projects are coordinated and integrated.  Because there are so many components of this program, you will see communication updates on RISE that originate from CDE, and you will also see more targeted updates originating from the supporting projects’ respective Project Managers.  If you have any questions about the SLDS (RISE) project or any SLDS (RISE) communications you receive, please feel free to contact us at slds_questions@cde.state.co.us.