Policies and Procedures under A.R.S. § 15-1043(D)

ADE is posting the Draft Data Sharing Agreement (“DSA”) and Statement of Work (“SOW”) templates it has created in order to share data under A.R.S. § 15-1043(C)(2). As noted in the Draft DSA, this Primary Agreement and any SOWs are intended to meet the data and security requirements outlined in Title 41-4282, which requires ADE to use written agreements before sharing this student level data and to comply with FERPA, among other things. ADE’s policy is to use these detailed agreements to ensure that all privacy and security standards are met.

Review Process

On a monthly basis the Data Council meets to approve or decline Data Sharing Agreements requests. The Data Council reviews requests on the following criteria, in addition to state and federal law:

  1. The request shall meet the expectations outlined by ADE leadership. 
  2. The request shall align with the agency’s goals,  objectives, and Research Agenda. 
  3. The request shall demonstrate that it complies with applicable laws. 
  4. The request shall demonstrate that it will improve education, instruction, or other education-related issues in Arizona. 
  5. The requester(s) shall have sufficient knowledge and experience to use the data appropriately without drawing inaccurate conclusions. 
  6. The requester(s) shall have the necessary skills to execute queries and run advanced statistical analysis packages. 
  7. The request shall demonstrate that it will employ formal, adopted and high-quality research and statistical practices and research methodologies. 

Requesting Personally Identifable Information (PII)

All PII requests must meet the criteria outlined above in our guidance. In addition, PII requests to be considered for access to student-level data must meet the additional criteria below:   

  1. At least one program area at ADE is part of the grant study and is collaborating with the external requestor. 
  2. The Associate Superintendent of the collaborating program arear approves the request. 
  3. Proposed request meets a FERPA exception.