Providing Data Management and Analytic Support to the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
From 2019 to 2025, AIR supported the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and its Management Support Office (MSO) to improve data-driven decision-making and operational efficiency.
Our Work
AIR has a long history of working with federal clients, strong technical expertise, and a deep commitment to quality. We supported OESE and MSO by collecting, analyzing, and publishing education data to guide decisions on funding, technical assistance, and policy at the national, state, and local levels.
Data Collection and Dissemination of Surveys and Reports
AIR helped OESE carry out data collection, review, analysis, and reporting tasks that involved data reporting to ED offices by state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), or other types of grantees. For example, we:
- Managed surveys and data systems for programs such as:
- Consolidated State Performance Report (CSPR), ED’s annual reporting tool that collects information on topics associated with different ED programs.
- Stronger Connections Grant (SCG), a grant program that provides funding to SEAs for activities to support safe and healthy students.
- Title II, Part A Use of Funds Surveys, three annual surveys that collect information from both SEAs and LEAs about how Title II, Part A funds are used.
- Monitored data collection process, provided ongoing technical support, and developed OMB packages.
- Conducted data quality reviews, identified potential data issues, and prepared comments to help OESE request clarifications or revisions, and compiled summary reports.
- Maintenance of Equity data - Conducted a data equity review submitted by SEAs and shared analyses and findings.
- Maintenance of Equity data - Conducted a data equity review submitted by SEAs and shared analyses and findings.
- Prepared reports, public data tables, and webinars to share findings from quantitative and qualitative analyses of ED data.
- Title I, Part A program, Promise Neighborhoods Program - Helped to calculate and review performance measures of these OESE grant programs.
- ED Data Express data - Developed resources to guide and increase the usage of this program.
Title III Technical Assistance
AIR helped the Title III program office (previously overseen by OESE) improve data quality for English learner programs by developing:
- A Title III data guide outlining responsibilities, timelines and quality standards.
- Infographics and resources for new coordinators explaining reporting processes and file relationships, such as the Title III data-reporting process, EDFacts data submissions, CSPR data submissions, and relationships between the Title III‒related EDFacts file specifications. In addition, AIR and a small business partner prepared the Title III Native Language Coding Resource to support state coordinators for EDFacts reporting.
- Quarterly webinars and Community of Practice (CoP) to support data coordinators and share updates. We provided content and logistical support for eight webinars and five CoP sessions. View the slides and transcripts.
Data Governance and Data Strategy
AIR supported OESE in advancing its data governance and data strategy development efforts to fulfill its mission of establishing more efficient, effective, and data-driven operations. For example, we:
- Provided support for the OESE Data Governance Board (DGB), which served as OESE’s central body for promoting high-quality data governance, institutionalizing best practices, and setting strategic goals for data management across all program offices.
- Created the OESE Data Inventory—a catalogue of data assets across all OESE program offices—to improve transparency, identify cross-cutting data processes, and increase understanding of data and their utility.
- Conducted a qualitative needs assessment to identify gaps in data use, management, and processes.
Our Impact
AIR’s work helped the Department of Education strengthen the accuracy and use of education data, improve coordination among state and federal agencies, and build lasting tools and practices for continuous data improvement.
