Washington State P20W Data System

Program Description: 

Washington’s Education Research and Data Center (ERDC) maintains a state longitudinal data system of preschool-through-workforce data, called P20W data. Built with the data contributions of many partners, this system combines data from early learning, K-12, postsecondary, and workforce sectors. ERDC prioritizes the protection of privacy for students, employees, and employers represented within its data system. 

The P20W Data System helps inform policy- and decision-making at the state level and with partner institutions. Anyone can request data, if they meet the necessary requirements, and requests most frequently come from state agencies, policymakers, K-12 district administrators, university administrators, community-based organizations, and academic researchers. 

ERDC curates data for public consumption in several dashboards. They include analysis on early learning, dual credit, high school graduate outcomes, earnings for graduates, apprenticeships, financial health of public four-year institutions, and the workforce. These projects are guided by a research agenda and reporting requirements. Granular, longitudinal data like this can help identify successful education-to-career pathways and determine barriers to learner success. 

Impact: 

Since its establishment in Washington state statute in 2007, ERDC has been a leader in both managing the governance and use of P20W data and in producing longitudinal analyses of the state’s education and workforce outcomes. ERDC has been written into more than a dozen statutes (which involve numerous regular reporting requirements), produced more than 100 publications and reports, and provided data to hundreds of individuals and groups which have led to descriptive and action-oriented research and analyses, data quality and coordination improvements, policy change, and more, within Washington and beyond.  

ERDC’s impact can also be demonstrated by examining how the data system can follow groups of students over time. This large-scale analysis of an entire cohort of 2007 kindergarteners, representing over 70,000 students, shows the power of the data system to illuminate student pathways and timelines as they progress from their first learning experiences to their eventual careers.  

Population Served: 

Learners, workers, educators, researchers, and policymakers in Washington State. 

Key Steps for Implementation: 

• ERDC was established in Washington state statute (RCW 43.41.400) in 2007. 

• In 2009, ERDC’s efforts were catalyzed by federal funding for state longitudinal data systems, with additional federal grants secured in 2015 and 2019.

• From 2022 to present, with support from the Gates Foundation, ERDC is undertaking a data system modernization project, including P20W data migration to the cloud, expected by 2027. 

Learn more here.  

Page last updated in August 2026