The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provides an opportunity to transform how data are used in education. The 2002 ESEA requirement to disaggregate data and provide them to the public has made it possible to have greater transparency and more accurate measures of academic performance than ever. Congress now has the opportunity to build on this success and leverage data as a tool to shine a light on what is working; inform continuous improvement; and empower stakeholders, including parents and educators, with information they can use to help students succeed. To transform how data are used in education, the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) recommends four strategies for federal leadership to create the conditions for data to be used to improve systems and increase student achievement: (1) Shift the role of data from compliance to meeting the needs of people; (2) Use data to improve teacher effectiveness; (3) Ensure student data are safeguarded; and (4) Reduce burden and build state and local capacity to use data effectively. The recommendations detailed in this document represent specific, concrete opportunities for federal leadership to build on the tremendous momentum of the past decade, and help change the role of data from one centered on compliance reporting and accountability to one of empowerment. Contains an appendix: DQC Knowledge and Expertise.