Data Quality Campaign, a nonprofit founded by governments and foundations to encourage states to collect and use educational data, awarded Gov. Martin O'Malley its state policymaker award Wednesday.
The group cited the governor's efforts in the last legislative session to establish a longitudinal data system center that will keep track of student data from early childhood through college and into the work force. Maryland was far behind other states in its ability to collect and track student data, but made significant progress in the past year.
The new longitudinal data system, once complete, will be able to link student test data to teachers, a key issue for the state in its attempt to put in place a new teacher evaluation system.