EEC unveils plan for single 'professional portal' to link educator records and sharpen workforce data

EEC staff outlined a phased plan to consolidate multiple educator data systems into a single EEC Professional Portal that they say will reduce duplicate records, streamline workflows and enable more precise workforce analysis.

Jesse Murray, who leads the agency product team, said the portal currently hosts certification workflows and will be expanded to include registration and a registry function that could replace the existing Professional Qualifications Registry (PQR). “What we want this to be is where we have educator data,” Murray said, describing the portal as a “one-stop shop” for certification, profiles and (eventually) credentials.

Staff described four primary data sources the agency currently uses—PQR, the Teacher Qualification (TQ) system, the agency Learning Management System (LMS), and program-level reporting through C3—and outlined limitations that motivated the portal effort. Those limitations include duplicate entries in the PQR, outdated TQ infrastructure, limited LMS integration with other systems, and C3’s collection of compensation and turnover data only at the program level, which the agency said constrains analysis of individual turnover and wage trends.

The agency’s near-term roadmap calls for initial integration steps this calendar year focused on pulling program lists into the portal and creating preliminary roster mapping so that programs and licensors can see linked educator records. Staff said linking educators to programs is a prerequisite to collecting more granular, individual-level compensation data in the future. The planned LMS integration (the Strong Start LMS) slipped to a likely March or April deployment, staff said.

Commissioners asked about lower-effort integration approaches such as drop-down menus and the risk of adding administrative burden to providers. Murray and colleagues said the rollout will be phased: a simple pull of program lists could be an early step followed by deeper integration, validation checks to reduce typographical errors, and attention to minimizing extra data entry for educators and programs.

Agency staff emphasized two intended outcomes: reduce duplicate or inconsistent records across systems to improve data quality, and enable new types of workforce analysis—for example, tracking how educators move across roles and programs, and better understanding who is currently employed in the field.

The commission did not take formal action on the portal at this meeting. Staff said a fuller roadmap and additional updates will be circulated to the commission ahead of the April meeting.