Five states are launching a pilot with the Council of Chief State School Officers and the U.S. Department of Defense to add military enlistment records into K–12 longitudinal data systems this fall. Arkansas, Kansas, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington will test secure data-sharing agreements that report which students enlist, branch choice and length of service. State education officials and the Data Quality Campaign say the move responds to inconsistent access to enlistment records that has left postsecondary and workforce metrics incomplete for tens of thousands of graduates. The pilot aims to standardize how military service appears in accountability dashboards and help colleges, workforce boards and policymakers trace pathways from high school into service and then into higher education or employment. Why it matters: better linkage of military service to education records affects veteran enrollment counts, financial aid eligibility planning, student-success interventions and institutional reporting. Colleges that enroll veterans or participate in state workforce partnerships should expect new data flows and potential changes in cohort metrics.