As defined by the Data Quality Campaign in Data 101, cross-agency data governance is a formal, leadership-level body that is responsible and accountable for making decisions about how data linked between state agencies is connected, secured, accessed, and used to meet state education and workforce goals. Typical features of these entities:

• They define clear purposes, roles, and responsibilities for participating agencies in the statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) and ensure accountability for data quality, privacy, and security.
• The entity is codified into state law to ensure the right membership and sustainability over time,
• Best-practice includes senior leaders from each of the agencies that contribute data to the system plus stakeholders that represent state education and workforce priorities (e.g., business leaders, district leaders, community organizations).
• State leaders set a vision for data use and create accountability for making decisions about data.
• Creates sustainability for the SLDS, especially when codified by legislation, by ensuring that decision-making authority is clear and responsibilities for data collection, privacy and security, and access are defined.
• Builds trust by creating a space for cross-agency collaboration, facilitating a shared data culture, and ensuring processes and decisions are transparent.
• Creates forums for communication and decision-making that are open to and include input from the public as well as local government.