Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Data
Student- and staff-level information collected by LAUSD, including standardized test scores, English Language Development level, school and classroom placement, and course enrollment.
Students and staff in Los Angeles Unified School District schools
Access
LAUSD data are available to researchers by request. Researchers must submit an online proposal to the LAUSD Office of Data and Accountability. The Committee for External Research Review (CERR) reviews data request applications. The Committee will only be approving select proposals that will provide concrete and timely benefit to the District. As of January 2021, due to the difficulties of 2020, only a few proposals are being considered at that time.
As part of the application process, researchers must fill out background information and relevant proposal details as outlined on this page on submitting research proposals. Researchers will be required to submit appendices and additional materials, including references, instruments, consent forms, and, if applicable, a letter from the graduate student’s sponsor stating that the sponsor has read and approved the CERR proposal. Researchers must also seek IRB approval from their home institution and include either the IRB submission materials or documentation showing IRB exemption with their application. The CERR must receive a letter of IRB approval or exemption before research begins.
Additionally, researchers must submit a signed Statement of Agreement in which they establish the legal and ethical compliance of their proposed work. Graduate students who apply for data access must also include a letter of sponsorship from their faculty advisor. Researchers will also need to submit a Data Use Agreement (DUA) to the Executive Director of the Office of Data and Accountability (ODA) for access to individual-level student and/or staff data. The DUA will be sent to the requesting party after the research proposal is approved.
Upon completion of the research project, researchers are required to submit their findings in a practitioner-friendly format, e.g., infographic, presentation, or executive summary. CERR would need up to 30 days to review any relevant documents to maintain data privacy rights and interests of the District, if researchers identify the District in their research.
Timeline for Access
It usually takes about 20-30 working days for CERR to review the research proposal application. However, approval by CERR does not guarantee data access; researchers will also need to submit a DUA. Once approved, researchers will be provided a link to make the specific data request and an estimate of the staff time required to provide data.
CERR approval lasts for one year after a researcher receives a formal letter approving their research. Researchers may submit proposals for multi-year studies, which if approved require the researcher to submit an annual update requesting a one-year extension. A separate proposal is not required unless the study’s parameters change significantly from the original multi-year proposal.
Lag Time
Unknown.
Cost
Records cost $100 per hour of staff time needed to complete data requests. If the Data Use Agreement is approved, CERR will include a cost and time estimate to fulfill the data request.
Linking
Public documentation suggests LAUSD employees are willing to match student records, strip personally identifying information, and provide researchers with de-identified data, but this is not explicitly advertised as a service. Prior research projects (e.g., Kane and Staiger, 2008) indicate the LAUSD system allows researchers to link teachers to their students. CERR cannot accommodate data requests which require linking across multiple LAUSD data sets or multiple years.
Data Contents
Partial List of Variables
Student records: Standardized test scores, race/ethnicity, indicator for Title I status, eligibility for free/reduced price lunch, indicator for homelessness, participation in special education, designation as gifted or talented, English Language Development level, school and classroom placement, course enrollment, teacher assignment
Teacher records: race/ethnicity, gender, years of experience, highest degree earned, job title, contract status, teacher’s school and classroom placement
J-PAL Randomized Evaluations Using this Data Set
Bursztyn, Leonardo, and Robert Jensen. 2015. “How Does Peer Pressure Affect Educational Investments?” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 130 (3): 1329–67. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjv021.
Cantrell, Steven, Jon Fullerton, Thomas J. Kane, and Douglas O. Staiger. 2008. “National Board Certification and Teacher Effectiveness: Evidence from a Random Assignment Experiment.” Working Paper 14608. National Bureau of Economic Research. doi:10.3386/w14608.
Kane, Thomas J., and Douglas O. Staiger. 2008. “Estimating Teacher Impacts on Student Achievement: An Experimental Evaluation.” Working Paper 14607. National Bureau of Economic Research. doi:10.3386/w14607.