What is the Core Collection?
The Core Collection is an effort to consolidate approximately 160 separate data collection systems at TEA.
Core Collection
What is the Core Collection?
For over
20 years, Texas has performed thorough data collections to support state and
federal reporting and policy efforts.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) currently collects organization, budget, actual financial, staff and
student data for approximately 8,711 campuses in the Texas public school
system.
This data
is collected across approximately 160 separate data collection systems at the
agency. The TSDS Core Collection is an
effort to consolidate the collection of this data within TSDS to standardize
the submission process and reduce redundancy between data collections.
(Note that TSDS PEIMS and the studentGPS® Dashboards are not managed through the Core Collection
interface, though they are part of TSDS.)
The TSDS Core Collection will improve and standardize the
completion, submission, validation and reporting processes for many of these
data collections. In some cases, the
legacy collections require manual data submissions using spreadsheets or even
email; TSDS will automate those laborious and error-prone processes and create
a single, unified system for data submission that will be consistent and easy
to use.
How Will the Core Collection Benefit my LEA?
- Provide a
single, standard system where there had been scores of independently developed,
inconsistent collections
- Minimize
redundant data submissions by allowing LEAs to apply the data warehoused for the
TSDS collection to any other relevant data collection
- Improve data
quality by providing validations for the TSDS
collection, documented in the Texas Education Data Standards
- Automate the
completion process, allowing better auditing and accountability of the
submitted data sets
- Provide flexibility
to grow with and adapt to changing LEA business requirements
- Provide appropriate levels of security to
meet federal, state and local regulations, particularly the Family Education
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Health Information Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA)
What is the Early Childhood Data System (ECDS)?
The Early Childhood Data System (ECDS), formerly
the Kindergarten Readiness System (KRS), is the first collection to be
incorporated into the TSDS Core Collection.
ECDS is the platform used to collect
state-mandated early childhood data which is designed to inform school
districts, communities, and early childhood programs about the effectiveness of prekindergarten, Head Start
and community-based licensed childcare programs in preparing children for
kindergarten. For more information, see Early Childhood Data System.
The Core Collections application uses data from the Operational Data Store, meaning that ECDS data can be used to populate the dashboards and vice versa.
