The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act “controls how government data are collected, created, stored, used and released.” This policy defines all data as public, and therefore accessible to anyone for any or no reason, unless state or federal law classifies it otherwise. Additional Minnesota statutes outline practices for use of data “for the administration and management of programs” and describe the State’s informed consent process to ensure ethical data collection.

The Minnesota P-20 Education Partnership governs the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) and Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System (ECLDS) that “form a P-20 education data system which captures, analyzes, and uses student data from preschool to…college, and the workforce.” This system is governed jointly by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and Minnesota Departments of Education and Employment and Economic Development and incorporates data from the state departments of Human Services and Health.