Welcome to Data Governance
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) is committed to maintaining transparency of government and providing actionable information to parents, educators, and the community. To that end, the ADE provides public data sets and reports that are available and may be immediately downloaded and utilized.
If the available public data sets do not meet your needs, see below for more information on the types of requests that can be submitted.
According to the Arizona Ombudsman Citizens’ Aide,
“Arizona law requires all officers and public bodies to maintain records reasonably necessary to provide an accurate accounting of their official activities and of any government funded activities.
Records are defined as books, papers, maps, photographs, or other documentary materials regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an governmental agency in pursuance of law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved by the agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of government. Examples of public records and other matters include calendars, reports, legal memoranda, policies and procedures, accident reports, training videos and materials, tape recordings of meetings where there are no written minutes, personnel records, case files, and data bases” (https://www.azoca.gov/open-meeting-and-public-records-law/overview/).
Please note:
- All data provided through a public record request will be reviewed and redacted in accordance with FERPA and ADE standards to protect the confidentiality of student records, educator records, and other private information under state law.
- Under Arizona Law A.R.S. §15-1043, student records are not considered public records.
- Data provided through a media data request will be aggregated and redacted with an asterisk (*) to indicate student counts of 10 or less.
Additional information about FERPA is available here.
Submit a Public Records Request
Commercial Purpose Use:
Records are requested for a commercial purpose where the use of a public record is for:
- Sale or resale or for the purpose of producing a document containing all or part of the copy for sale OR
- Obtaining the names and addresses for solicitation OR
- Direct or indirect use of the public record for monetary gain
The person who makes the request must provide a statement indicating the commercial purpose. The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) may charge a fee to include: the cost of obtaining the document; reasonable fee for the cost of time, equipment and personnel to produce the record, and the value of the reproduction on the commercial market as determined by the ADE. The ADE has determined that the charge for a commercial request of this nature is $0.50 per email address.
Any questions regarding the submission of a public record request should be directed to [email protected].
Thank you for your interest in education in Arizona. The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) works to respond to and address media data requests that are permitted by statute as time and resources allow. Statute, policy and the ADE Research Agenda guide the ADE's decision for honoring requests, as a result, not all requests will be fulfilled. If it is determined that your request will not be fulfilled, you will be provided a reason for its denial.
Media data requests are those requests submitted from journalists and media professionals who are seeking data that is aggregated (school-level, LEA-level, state-level, etc.) and redacted per statute and ADE policies.
Please note:
- All data provided through a media data request will be reviewed and redacted in accordance with FERPA and ADE standards to protect the confidentiality of student records, educator records, and other private information under state law.
- Under Arizona Law A.R.S. §15-1043, student records are not considered public records.
- Data provided through a media data request will be aggregated and redacted with an asterisk (*) to indicate student counts of 10 or less.
The ADE Research Agenda is available here.
Additional information about FERPA is available here.
When submitting a media data request, please be as specific as possible regarding the data elements you are requesting and the intended use of the data to ensure that the ADE is able to process your data request in a timely manner.
Any questions regarding the submission of a media data request should be directed to [email protected].
Thank you for your interest in education in Arizona. The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) works to respond to and address custom data requests that are permitted by statute, as time and resources allow. Statute, policy and the ADE Research Agenda guide the ADE's decision for honoring requests, as a result, not all requests will be fulfilled Custom data requests are those requests that are seeking data that is aggregated (school-level, LEA-level, state-level, etc.) and redacted per ADE redaction policy.
Please note:
- All data provided through a custom data request will be reviewed and redacted to protect the confidentiality of student records, educator records, and other private information under state law.
- Under Arizona Law A.R.S. §15-1043, student records are not considered public records.
- Data provided through a custom data request will be aggregated and redacted with an asterisk (*) to indicate student counts of 10 or less in accordance with FERPA and ADE standards.
- The ADE does not fulfill custom data requests for commercial enterprises beyond the scope of the data that is already made publicly available.
- The ADE is not able to format files for requesters.
Additional information about FERPA is available here.
When submitting a custom data request, please be as specific as possible regarding the data elements you are requesting and the intended use of the data to ensure that the ADE is able to process your data request in a timely manner. Custom data requests will be reviewed by the appropriate program area to determine if the request can be fulfilled.
Custom Data Requests will be reviewed based on the following criteria in addition to available program area resources and capacity.
- Does the request meet the expectations outlined in the ADE Research Agenda
- Does the request align with the agency's goals and objectives?
- Does the request demonstrate that it complies with applicable laws?
If you wish to request un-redacted data (to include student counts less than 10) or student-level data, please see the Restricted Access Research Data Request information below.
Any questions regarding the submission of a data request should be directed to [email protected].
Thank you for your interest in education in Arizona. In order to maintain the strictest privacy protection on personally identifiable and confidential student data, while also supporting research that is in alignment with statute, policy, and the ADE Research Agenda, the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) has established a Restricted Access Research Data Request process.
Any information that the ADE deems to be of a personally identifiable and/or confidential nature may be used for approved restricted access research using secure computers/connections provided by the ADE. Any person or organization, including university faculty, independent researchers, and private and non-profit organizations who wish to use the ADE's confidential and protected data must submit a data request to the ADE. Please note that due to the high volume of requests received, the ADE is not able to honor requests from master's degree seeking students and does not fulfill data requests for commercial enterprises beyond the scope of the data that is already made publicly available. Additionally, in order to ensure appropriate data handling, manage request volume, and allocate resources effectively, the ADE requires Deputy Associate Superintendent / Associate Superintendent sponsorship for all Restricted Access Research Data Requests that seeks atypical access to data (i.e. receipt of individual-level data on personal computer equipment).
Once a complete request has been submitted through the Data Request Form, the request will be reviewed by the Data Request Review Team, pending the availability of the team and the number of requests received. Final decision of the Restricted Access Research Data Request will be communicated to the requester(s). Upon approval of a Restricted Access Research Data Request, the requester(s) will need to complete necessary paperwork including a data sharing agreement and then the request will be placed in a queue. The requester(s) will be scheduled to conduct their research analysis based on resource availability. The ADE uses its discretion in prioritizing requests.
Using the approved and available data sets, the requester(s) will conduct analyses using software provided by the ADE. Please note, advanced statistical analysis skills are required to access data provided through the Restricted Access Research Data Request Process. Requesters must be able to utilize statistical analysis programs (i.e. SAS, SQL, SPSS), join databases, and execute queries. The ADE is not able to provide data formatting or perform analysis for requesters. Upon completion of analyses, the requester(s) will save output files (e.g. SPSS file, excel file, SAS output file, etc.) to the assigned drive, per instructions from the ADE staff. The ADE staff will review the output files for appropriateness. Approved output files will be delivered to the requester(s) by secure file transfer. Upon conclusion of the researcher, the requester(s) will submit any policy briefs, research papers, or other publications to the ADE for review.
Access to student-level/unredacted data is only granted after the highest level of scrutiny from the Data Request Review Team.
Any questions regarding the submission of a data request should be directed to [email protected].
Please note, all proposals and supporting documents sent to the ADE become public records.
Student Data Collection and Protection Sheet
To see an overview of active Data Sharing Agreements click here.
