Featured Work

State agency leaders across the country are driving the emergence and sustainability of the MSDC. This work is being supported by NASWA, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO), the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), the Coleridge Initiative and other partners and funders. This webpage is a joint partner effort, led by state agency leaders, to provide public information about the MSDC, including their activities and products.

Project Spotlight

In September 2025, the MSDC launched a Request for Information to obtain information and solicit interest in developing data tools and products that benefit states using state administrative records. The RFI seeks to build partnerships with applied policy researchers and technical experts to extend member states’ capacity to develop innovative data tools and products to address shared priority policy and program issues.   

The RFI prioritizes projects that use data housed in the Administrative Data Research Facility (ADRF) hosted by the Coleridge Initiative. However, projects may include MSDC member states who do not share data through the ADRF as partners or collaborators. Successful respondents will demonstrate their commitment and ability to successfully partner with one or more MSDC states and pursue funding to support their proposed initiative. 

The Multi-State Data Collaborative’s RFI builds upon the lessons learned from a pilot RFI conducted by the Midwest Collaborative in 2023-2024. 

MSDC Learning Agenda

MSDC has developed a shared learning agenda to systematically identify and address priority questions that are relevant to member states and agencies. Updated annually at the MSDC Full Council meeting, the agenda reflects the proprieties of the MSDC community and serves as the foundation for its current work.

Through “innovation sandboxes,” the MSDC helps states advance and accelerate data product development and innovation. Value is created as networks of government staff from various programs and functions ideate together and discover opportunities to access training, peer support, technical assistance, or use microdata and a secure data facility.

    Current Projects

     Current projects showcase work that is actively in progress, reflecting our latest focus and direction.

Industries of Ideas

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Workforce	Midwest Collaborative RFI Pilot Project, National Science Foundation	Industries of Ideas Project Website	Industries of Ideas: A prototype system for measuring the effects of TIP investments on firms and jobs is developing a new, data-driven way to measure the economic impact of federal investments in research and technology. This project is developing methods for following the movement of ideas from investments in research into the marketplace.

Multistate Teacher Workforce Report

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
K-12, Workforce	Democratizing our Data Challenge	Democratizing our Data Challenge Project Description	The Rhode Island Longitudinal Data System, New Jersey and the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, and the New York Department of Labor are collaborating to develop a multi-state teacher workforce report.

Indiana Credential Outcome Transparency

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Post-Secondary, Workforce	Democratizing our Data Challenge	Democratizing our Data Challenge Project Description	This project is creating a technical blueprint for mapping the Credential Engine schema to wage, employment, and training provider data, and a prototype “Return on Credential Investment” app that enables youth, unemployed, displaced, and transitioning workers to better understand high demand career pathways.

Prosperity for Ohio: Mapping Credentials to Success

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Post-Secondary, Workforce	Democratizing our Data Challenge	Project Website	Prosperity for Ohio seeks to create new institution- and system-level dashboards with post-college student outcomes that can be adopted across Ohio’s community colleges to help them attract and advise students and identify and redesign programs to bolster social and economic mobility.

Increasing College Completion in High-Value Career and Technical Fields

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Post-Secondary, Workforce	Democratizing our Data Challenge  Midwest Collaborative RFI Pilot Project		This project proposes to utilize MSDC member data and quantitative methods to: unpack how skills students’ navigation of the workforce intersects with their use and navigation of postsecondary education; investigate how information about prior education, field of study, and industry can illuminate students’ choices and enrollment behaviors; and explore patterns and differences by region (with particular attention to differences in urbanicity/rurality) and by college. The results of the study will directly inform efforts to increase completion of postsecondary credentials, especially postsecondary certificates, in high-value career and technical education fields by illuminating the relationships between workforce participation, industry changes, and the enrollment of re/upskilling sequences that, at present, often do not result in college completion for skills builder students.

Early Childhood Workforce Analysis and Modeling

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Human Services, Workforce	Midwest Collaborative RFI Pilot Project		Using linked labor force data, in conjunction with early childhood program data, and roster data including employment details for childcare workers, this project will enable research across states on a set of significant early childhood workforce questions, such as: What is the current gap in supply for the demand of childcare workers? What is the supply of ECE providers in participating states? What are the employment patterns of childcare providers? Where are the present-day and coming disparities in access to childcare?

Multistate Post-Secondary Report

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Post-secondary, Workforce	Democratizing our Data Challenge	Multistate Post Secondary Report	The Multistate Postsecondary dashboard provides states with a better understanding of the employment outcomes of individuals who completed a credential within their state’s higher education programs, by linking higher education records with both in-state and out-of-state employment records.

Unemployment to Reemployment Portal

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Workforce	Applied Data Analytics class project; Democratizing our Data Challenge	Midwest Collaborative/Illinois Overview    Illinois and Indiana Demonstration video    Wisconsin: Democratizing our Data Challenge	Initially developed during the COVID-19 Pandemic to address the employment crisis, Unemployment to Reemployment Portals and Dashboards provide insights using state data and help policy makers and program leaders effectively respond to local and social economic challenges.

Completed Projects

Completed projects represent finalized work that has addressed state and local needs, contributing to meaningful impact on policy or practice. 

K-12 Data Model

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
K-12 Model	Democratizing our Data Challenge	Democratizing our Data Challenge Project Description	This project created a data model for state K-12 data submissions to the Administrative Data Research Facility (the MSDC's data platform)

Enrollment To Employment

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Human Services, Post-Secondary, Workforce	U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Grant	Evaluating Enrollment to Employment Pathways: Integrated Service Delivery in Workforce Development, Education, and Social Benefits Programs	The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration funded NASWA to support two Applied Data Analytics training classes that focused on the cross-section of WIOA, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs and services linked to employment and wage outcomes. The Coleridge Initiative delivered the classes in partnership with the state of Arkansas, which yielded several class projects as well as an interactive dashboard developed by the State of Arkansas that flags program referrals and tracks future outcomes at the individual level.

Expanding the Multistate Post-Secondary Report Dashboard: Workforce Credentials and Students without Degrees

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Post-Secondary, Workforce	Democratizing our Data Challenge	Democratizing our Data Challenge Project Description	This project will build the capacity of the Multi-State Postsecondary Report Dashboard by incorporating data on workforce credentials and students without degrees. Specifically, the Ohio Education Research Center will develop an updated dashboard to include data on career and technical education, registered apprenticeships, and individuals who exited higher education without a full degree.

Equity in Unemployment Insurance Benefit Access and Experience

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Workforce	Midwest Collaborative RFI Pilot Project		This project expands upon the UI Equity grant projects by developing new measures to investigate and visualize average duration and exhaustion by equity groups, as well as time-to-certification and time-to-payment measures. The exhaustion, average duration, and time-lapse measures will be incorporated into new equity reports available in the Unemployment to Reemployment portal.

UI Equity Federal Grant - Multistate Data Collaborative

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Workforce	U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration		Five MSDC states wrote common language into their UI Equity grant applications, allowing them to collaboratively develop measures and visualizations of relevant dimensions of equity in access and implementation of the Unemployment Insurance program.

Education and Training as a Gateway to reemployment of the Unemployed: Through the Lens of Equity

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Workforce	Democratizing our Data Challenge	Democratizing our Data Challenge Project Description	This project will develop measures and tableau visualizations on unemployment spell behavior by education categories of local unemployment insurance (UI) claimants to understand how the progression of certification weeks impacts the reemployment probability by education level.

Education Design Lab: Methodology for Documenting Micro-Pathway Participants

Topic Area(s)	Project Pathways	Link	Description
Post-Secondary, Workforce	Democratizing our Data Challenge	Democratizing our Data Challenge Project Description	This project will establish a methodology for documenting employment outcomes for micro-pathway (non-credit, short-term, or alternative credentialing programs) participants.