Tennessee leverages a longitudinal data system, P20 Connect TN (“P20”), to link education, workforce, human services, children’s services, and economic development data at the individual level to produce insights for programmatic investments. Templatized data sharing documents and policies have been in place since 2017 and have facilitated over 100 external and internal data use projects since P20’s creation. For example, Tennessee has leveraged its external research partnerships and P20 to evaluate statewide education and workforce development policies and programs, including Career and Technical Education, Tennessee Promise, Tennessee Reconnect, Reverse Transfer, and Adult Education investments through federal WIOA funding. Additionally, P20 has been integral to some of the state’s most ambitious initiatives for postsecondary attainment and workforce alignment, and partnering state agencies use it regularly to produce reports like the Department of Education’s Report Card  and the workforce Supply and Demand report.

Tennessee’s templatized data sharing documents and long-established governance policies have also enabled a rapid expansion of data integration and sharing with additional state agencies. In 2023, the Tennessee Office of Evidence and Impact (OEI) established memoranda of understanding with the Tennessee Department of Health, Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service, the Division of TennCare, and the Tennessee Department of Correction to integrate individual health and criminal justice data in the new cloud-based TN DATA integrated data system.