History
Legislative Bill 1071: Student Data Sharing Agreement
This bill directed the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska State Board of Education, the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Colleges, and the Board of Governors for each community college area (collectively, “NSWERS partners”) to adopt a policy to share student data.
Data Sharing Memorandum of Understanding Signed
As directed by LB 1071, an agreement to share student data related to public pre-K, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education was signed by the Nebraska's public education entities (PK-12 and higher education).
NSWERS Proposal to Nebraska Education Leaders
The NSWERS proposal was provided to Nebraska's educational leaders as a roadmap for the organization and governance of NSWERS. The proposal outlined a sample organization and governance processes to manage the use, structure, support, and maintenance of the NSWERS data system to produce reports and research to inform policymakers and educators.
Legal Formation as an Interlocal Entity
The NSWERS partners complete the legal formation of NSWERS as an interlocal public entity under the Nebraska Interlocal Cooperation Act for their mutual advantage regarding data initiatives.
Legislative Bill 1160: The NSWERS Act
This bill provides legislative direction for the development of NSWERS as a comprehensive, sustainable, and robust lifelong learning and workforce longitudinal data system serving the needs of the people of Nebraska. The bill also directs the Nebraska Department of Labor (NDoL) to execute a memorandum of understanding with NSWERS to ensure the exchange of available data.
NSWERS Leadership
The founding Executive Director is hired to launch NSWERS. The Executive Director is tasked with establishing core operational capacities, building a team of dedicated NSWERS staff, and creating the procedural and technical structures necessary for the creation and maintenance of the NSWERS data system.
NSWERS-Dept. of Labor Data Exchange Agreement
As directed by LB 1160, an agreement to exchange data between the Nebraska Department of Labor and NSWERS was signed.
Data Sharing Agreements for Proof-of-Concept
Data sharing agreements are signed to govern the exchange, maintenance, and disclosure of education information among NSWERS and its partners for the proof-of-concept data project.
NSWERS Staff
NSWERS develops and implements a two-tiered organization hiring plan for necessary skills. The first tier is complete with the hiring of four professionals to fill core staffing needs.
NSWERS Strategic Approach and Plan
The NSWERS Executive Council adopts the two-year Strategic Approach and Plan, a comprehensive set of goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics designed to drive the successful launch of NSWERS.
Proof-of-Concept Data Viz Release
The Proof-of-Concept (POC) Data Viz presents results of a pilot project (using data from the 2011 Nebraska high school cohort). The project was designed to support the development of policies, processes, procedures, and technologies for data collection and data sharing among NSWERS, its partners, and affiliates.
NSWERS Data and Technology Committee
Data and Technology Committee members from NSWERS’ partner institutions meet to provide input and feedback into the design and implementation of the NSWERS data elements and specifications.
Legislative Bill 1130: The NSWERS Annual Report
Signed into law by Governor Ricketts, this bill requires the filing of an annual report with the Clerk of the Legislature and the Governor, providing an overview of NSWERS’ research and analysis, additional data needs for future analysis, and organizational structure needs.
Launch of NSWERS Advisory Committee
The purpose of the committee is to make recommendations concerning the strategic direction of NSWERS, provide insight into the information agenda and related data products and services, and to contribute subject-matter expertise for NSWERS’ analytic activities.
Release V1.0 Data File Specifications
NSWERS releases version 1 of its Data File Specs which define and describe the K-12, postsecondary, and workforce data elements collected by the NSWERS data system and define validation rules for data quality.
NSWERS Information and Research Agenda
The Information and Research Agenda is developed to provide an overview of the information and research questions to be addressed by the NSWERS data system and how data elements will be used for analysis.
Enhanced Data Sharing Agreements
NSWERS secures signed data sharing agreements revised to accommodate v1.0 data collection from each NSWERS partner organization (no agreement with Central Community College).
NSWERS Data Collection, Version 1
This first official (non-POC) NSWERS data collection includes a 10-year tranche of historical student data from academic school years ending 2012-2021. Corresponding employment data for these students is matched (where available) back to 2009 in concert with the NDoL.
NSWERS Work Groups
Members of two data work groups, the PK-12 Records Linking Work Group and the Workforce Data Work Group, convene to focus on closing the gap between Nebraska’s education and workforce information needs and the availability of data.
Legislative Bill History
LB 1071 (2010)
NSWERS has its roots in Legislative Bill 1071 enacted by the One Hundred First Legislature, Second Session, signed into law by Governor Dave Heineman on April 14, 2010. This bill directed the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska State Board of Education, the Board of Trustees of the Nebraska State Colleges, and the Board of Governors for each community college area to adopt a policy to share student data. The resulting Memorandum of Understanding established an agreement “to share student data for the purposes of evaluation of and research related to public prekindergarten, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education to improve education in Nebraska.” In the fall of 2019, these partners advanced this cooperation and completed the legal formation of the NSWERS as a joint public entity under the Nebraska Interlocal Cooperation Act for mutual advantage regarding data initiatives.
LB 1160 (2020)
Signed into law by Governor Pete Ricketts on August 10, 2020, Legislative Bill 1160 – known as the Nebraska Statewide Workforce and Education Reporting System Act (2020) – supports the continued planning and development of NSWERS, envisioned as a comprehensive, sustainable, and robust lifelong learning and workforce longitudinal data system serving the needs of the people of Nebraska. Further, the bill directs the Nebraska Department of Labor to execute a memorandum of understanding with NSWERS to ensure the exchange of available data from the Nebraska Department of Labor.
On September 1, 2020, Dr. Matt Hastings was hired as founding Executive Director for NSWERS. He has established core operational capacities, built a team of dedicated NSWERS staff, and created the procedural and technical structures necessary for the creation and maintenance of an NSWERS data system.
LB 1130 (2022)
Legislative Bill 1130 was introduced by Senator Adam Morfeld on January 19, 2022 and became a Speaker priority bill on February 23. The bill was signed by Governor Pete Ricketts on April 19, 2022. LB 1130 requires the filing of an annual report with the Clerk of the Legislature and the Governor, providing an overview of research and analysis conducted by NSWERS, additional data needs for future analysis, and organizational structure needs.