Massachusetts SB 343/HB 530: An Act Establishing an Education-to-Career Data Center

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to provide written testimony in support of Senate Bill 343/House Bill 530. I submit this testimony as a longtime resident of the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, as a former Boston Public Schools parent, as a college professor of educational leadership and policy studies and university administrator, and as the former Chief of Policy and Planning in the City of Boston.

In my own work in the City of Boston and within universities and districts in the metro region, I have found that it is crucial to have data sharing across agencies. In addition, it is only with the use of “longitudinal” data that we can uncover the long-term impacts of disruptions caused by incidents such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal data is also key to determining what works as far as solutions to the challenges we face. Linking education-to-career data files is critical to determining if our investments in college and career pathways are paying off.