The rise of a globalized knowledge economy requires nations to understand the distribution of skills and abilities in their populations. It is no longer sufficient to know how many resources are devoted to the development of nations' human capital. Today, nations also must be able to demonstrate and understand the outcomes of their educational processes. This growing need has energized interest in building longitudinal data systems capable of following individual students throughout their educational careers. Despite growing commitment and funding, significant obstacles persist. One example is the lack of coordination nationally with the assignment of unique student identifiers--one of the cornerstones of the database development framework advocated by the Data Quality Campaign (DQC). These numbers--critical to linking records for longitudinal tracking--are being put into place state by state, with different structures and attributes, despite the fact that a substantial number of students will cross state lines in the course of their careers. Excessively rapid and uncoordinated database development can and will have unforeseen negative consequences. This paper presents a framework for how a multi-sector, multi-state data resource might be designed and governed. It is based on discussions and ongoing initiatives across several WICHE (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education) states, especially an effort involving the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Hawaii, to develop a prototype multi-state data exchange. (Contains 5 figures, 5 resources, and 2 endnotes.)