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Julia Steiny: A major data tool for parents and policymakers
The Providence Journal
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Meet the RIDataHUB at ridatahub.org.
More good news: Rhode Island has built an innovative data tool that is a data junkie’s dream, but also a source of reports and stories that are so easy to click through non-techies will find many information treasures. The goal is to put useful data in the hands of parents, the public and policymakers so they can finally see a landscape of information about kids, combined from different agencies and sources.
Or click through one of the “Stories.” The “NECAP math story” looks at the students’ answers to surveys they fill out when they take the NECAP state tests — who knew such data existed? The kids are pretty clear about what they think their problems with the test are, but you’ll have to go see for yourself to find out the answer.
The other tabs are for the more computer-confident. But it’s worth playing around. Already, several different agencies are participating. So you can see, for example, Health Department data along with test scores and other information schools collect.
As the HUB developer, The Providence Plan assembles this information behind thick firewalls. Each kid gets a unique numeric identifier, and relevant data from different sources are matched to that kid. Individual data are aggregated to become publicly available, while shielding confidentiality. (Full disclosure: I am a part-time consultant on the project.)
The HUB’s visualization software is still in a beta stage and can be glitchy on occasion. But it allows you to graph your findings in bar charts, scatter plots, maps, time sliders. When you get the hang of it, visualizing the data is really fun.
This project takes a huge step toward painting a holistic picture of kids’ well-being. For example, everyone kind of knows that family income, lead poisoning and teen pregnancy probably affect student achievement. But how? Specifically? The standardized state test scores tell us nothing about the various systems that are supposed to support kids and learning. The complete story would include data from Child Protective Services, Family Court, Parks and Recreation, and so forth.
But what a job!
And while the HUB’s database is already huge, in truth, the work has only just begun.
But it’s getting attention. The HUB has been featured as a selling point for Rhode Island in several successful federal grants, including the Race to the Top. And just recently Child Trends, a children’s research organization, lauded the HUB as “a tour-de-force of data integration.”
Oy. So what’s “data integration?”
Back in the 1990s, the explosion of computer-assisted technology forever changed the tedious and expensive process of data collection for research purposes. Suddenly the world was producing mountains of data. Literally, “data mining” became a new job category. But each agency or university owns and is responsible for its data. States often have as many as 40 different agencies addressing children’s issues. So the same kid shows up in 40 unrelated reports. Concerns about confidentiality prevent sharing data.
In the end, the only way to make meaning out of all the stats was through people’s anecdotes and intuitions.
In 1992, The Providence Plan opened shop as a sort of data Switzerland, a neutral hub where schools, state, multistate and federal agencies work together on sharing data. The R.I. Department of Education has longed for more contextual data that would help drive state and local policy supporting kids. A federal grant allowed the department to partner with The Providence Plan to build a system that would finally get different data sets to play well in the same sandbox.
That means that youngsters who have been sentenced to one of Rhode Island’s four juvenile facilities (the Training School is one) can be examined for their common characteristics. The HUB’s “Early Warning” story shows that kids who change schools often (excessive mobility) or have been held back in grade are at significant risk of having a run-in with the law, eventually. We might have guessed that conclusion, but this is not anecdote; it’s writ large in data.
Child Trends called the data stories “succinct, data-based explanations of key issues.”
Best of all, as the site itself says, “Policymakers, program planners and grants writers can use the HUB to demonstrate where to target scarce public resources and explain the data-driven rationale behind policy decisions. With the proper clearance, the HUB is a researcher’s paradise.”
The HUB news blast announces its free training sessions, newly available databases and what stories or reports have recently been added.
Data are just numbers until actual people come along and say what the stats mean. Rhode Island is way out in front of the nation in making useful meaning out of raw data.
Julia Steiny, a former member of the Providence School Board, consults on schools and government initiatives, such as Information Works!, Rhode Island’s school-accountability project. She can be reached at juliasteiny at gmail.com, or c/o EdWatch, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.
Full column available here: http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/EDWATCH_27_02-27-11_NVMJ79U_v8.1260be0.html