Senate Bill No. 757
(By Senators Plymale, Unger and Foster)
____________
[Introduced March 23, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18B-1D-9, relating
to entry into a data state compact among the Higher Education
Policy Commission, Council for Community and Technical College
Education and State Board of Education; authorizing
disclosures of information among the parties; requiring that
personal privacy laws be obeyed and security measures and
procedures be developed; and setting forth requirements for
data sharing arrangements with research organizations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §18B-1D-9, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 1D. HIGHER EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY.
§18B-1D-9. State data sharing compact.
(a) The intent of the Legislature in enacting this section is
to direct the commission, council and State Board of Education to
enter into a state compact, consistent with the provisions of
section six of this article, on or before June 30, 2009, to develop
and maintain a longitudinal education data system and to share
educational information.
(b) The Legislature finds:
(1) Sound data collection, reporting, and analysis are
critical to building an education system capable of ensuring that
all West Virginia students are adequately prepared for college and
the global workforce. Elementary schools, middle schools,
secondary schools and higher education institutions can improve
instructional and educational decision-making using data that is
collected and made available to them.
(2) State education policymaking benefits from partnerships
between state education agencies and entities with expertise in
education research. This state should establish systems and
processes to permit qualified researchers to assist with state
evaluation and research functions in a manner that is consistent
with privacy protection laws.
(3) West Virginia is committed to establishing and maintaining
a longitudinal student unit record data system that educators and
policymakers can use to analyze and assess student progress from
early learning programs through postsecondary education and into employment. The commission, council and State Board of Education
have designed, built, and deployed some of the fundamental
components of a longitudinal data system and have engaged in
extensive efforts to effectively link and use available education
data. However, the various education data components must be
integrated and managed in a cooperative manner to establish a
data-driven, decision-making environment for this state's education
system.
(4) Students will achieve improved learning outcomes because
of the longitudinal data system established through the state
compact mandated by this section.
(5) State use and management of education data must be in
accordance with all legal requirements protecting student privacy
and must protect personal information from intentional or
accidental release to unauthorized persons and from intentional or
accidental use for unauthorized purposes.
(c) Definitions:
(1) "Longitudinal data system" means a student unit record
data system that links student records from early learning through
the postsecondary level through entry into the workforce and
beyond, which may consist of separate student unit record systems
integrated through agreement and data transfer mechanisms.
(2) "Privacy protection laws" means the federal Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. 1232g) and any other state or federal laws relating to the confidentiality and
protection of personally identifiable information.
(3) "Research organization" means a governmental entity,
institution of higher education, public policy organization, or
other person or entity conducting educational research that: (i)
Is qualified to perform educational research and protect the
privacy of student data; (ii) is seeking to perform research for a
noncommercial purpose authorized by privacy protection laws; and
(iii) agrees to perform the research pursuant to a written
agreement meeting the requirements of privacy protection laws and
best research practices.
(d) The state data-sharing compact entered into by the
commission, council and State Board of Education shall contain the
following:
(1) A plan to establish and maintain a longitudinal data
system that links early learning, elementary, middle and secondary
school student unit records with higher education institution
student unit records;
(2) A plan to establish a data warehouse that integrates data
from multiple student unit record systems and supports all of the
uses and functions of the longitudinal data system;
(3) A list of areas for collaborative research and a
preliminary plan for conducting that research;
(4) A system for entering into data sharing arrangements with each other and research organizations consistent with subsection
(f) of this section; and
(5) A provision that would allow another party to the compact
to review any draft report or study generated utilizing that
party's data at least ten-days before the report or study is
released publicly. During that ten day period, each party shall be
given the opportunity to submit comments regarding the accuracy,
conclusions and recommendations of the report or study.
(e) To facilitate implementation of the requirements of this
section:
(1) The commission, council and State Board of Education are
authorized to disclose data to the longitudinal data system and
each other consistent with the purposes of this section;
(2) To the maximum extent practicable and with the assistance
of State Board of Education; the commission, council and West
Virginia institutions of higher education shall collect the State
Board of Education's unique identifier for all students who have
attended public schools in West Virginia to facilitate better
matching of student unit record data.
(3) The commission, council and State Board of Education shall
collect, use, maintain, disclose and share data in accordance with
personal privacy laws and shall develop security measures and
procedures that protect personal information from intentional or
accidental release to unauthorized persons and from intentional or accidental use for unauthorized purposes.
(f) Any data sharing arrangement entered into with a research
organization pursuant to this section shall meet the following
criteria:
(1) Be permissible under and undertaken in accordance with
privacy protection laws;
(2) Be approved by the State Superintendent of Schools or his
or her designee, the Chancellor for Higher Education or his or her
designee, and the Chancellor for Community and Technical College
Education or his or her designee, as appropriate, if data from that
entity are being utilized in the research;
(3) Not permit the personal identification of any person by
individuals other than authorized representatives of the research
organization that have legitimate interests in the information;
(4) Ensure the destruction or return of the data when no
longer needed for the authorized purposes under the data sharing
arrangement;
(5) Be performed pursuant to a written agreement with the
research organization that does the following:
(A) Specifies the purpose, scope and duration of the data
sharing arrangement;
(B) Requires the recipient of the data to use personally
identifiable information from education records to meet only the
purpose or purposes of the data sharing arrangement stated in the written agreement;
(C) Describes specific data access, use and security
restrictions that the recipient will undertake; and
(D) Contains such other terms and provisions as the
commission, council and State Board of Education, as appropriate,
deem necessary or appropriate.
(g) As a condition of participating in state-level financial
aid programs provided in chapter eighteen-c of this code, the
commission may require nonpublic institutions of higher education
to provide data for the longitudinal data system and data
warehouse. Upon reasonable request of any nonpublic institution
providing data under this subsection the commission, council or
State Board of Education will generate any report that will assist
that institution in evaluating its programs or students.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Higher
Education Policy Commission, the Council for Community and
Technical College Education and the State Board of Education to
enter into a state data-sharing compact.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
