What is P20W?

P20W is an effort underway in many states to link data from (P)reschool / early childhood through K-12 education and all avenues of postsecondary education and training (“Grade 20”) into the workforce. States are using de-identified data in ways that center privacy and confidentiality to better understand how people succeed in their education-to-workforce journey and what programs and policies helped them along the way.

Social and human services data can also be linked to help understand what programs helped residents succeed. The public will also have new tools to make informed decisions about education and training pathways and career choices.

Who is P20W?

We have a long history of ad hoc interagency collaboration in Missouri. Thanks to the support of Governor Mike Parson, the General Assembly, and many other interested supporters, Missouri now has a team housed within the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development dedicated to working with all our partners to link and find insights in P20W data.

Pictured from left to right are:

• Veronica Gielazauskas, Assistant Commissioner for DHEWD’s Office of Performance and Strategy, which includes P20W within the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC)
• Jeremy Kintzel, Director, P20W Research
• Matt Farris, Research Analyst
• Santhosh Pallepangi, Research Analyst

We are hiring a Senior Data Specialist, who will help us work with all our partners to organize, administer, and integrate new data, and a Senior Program Specialist, who will focus on project management and coordination.

While this is the team tasked with coordinating this effort, P20W includes all our partners and stakeholders, both within and outside state government.

What Have We Been Working On?

We’ve been working with other state agencies to explore data possibilities and create linkages. In particular, there has been progress with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to connect K-12 data securely and confidentially to postsecondary and workforce data. We’ve attended several national convenings to learn what other states are focusing on and what challenges they’ve encountered. We’re also working to find insights in our existing linked data.

If you would like to keep receiving this newsletter and stay connected, you are good to go! Click here to manage your DHEWD email subscriptions and feel free to share with others. We’re planning to distribute quarterly newsletters and other communications in the future. Also, contact jeremy.kintzel@dhewd.mo.gov if you have ideas or questions, or if there are others in your domain you think we should connect with.

Thanks for your interest and support!