Evidence-Based Policymaking: The Case from Washington State, USA Wen-Chun Chen Education Research and Data Center, State of Washington 19th SEAAIR Annual Conference Taipei, Taiwan Sep 26, 2019

Federal Law The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 ("Evidence Act"), signed into law on January 14, 2019. Advance data and evidence-building functions in the Federal Government by statutorily mandating - Federal evidence-building activities Open government data Confidential information protection and statistical efficiency.

The Impact of the Official Proclamation Increasing funding to support the build-up of longitudinal administrative data Increasing research activities Increasing attention on evidence-based policymaking

How Does ERDC Support Evidence-Based Policymaking? Build up P20W (pre-k to age 20+ Warehouse) data system Administrative records of student population from Washington K-12 to postsecondary education and workforce Research & reporting Policy relevant To improve educational outcomes Cross-sector & longitudinal analysis - Fulfill research requests from the legislature and governor’s policy/budget shops

ERDC Research and Policy Formulation Data collection Policy formulation Program outputs Implementation Research & reporting Deliver objective evidence to policymakers about student learning progression and outcomes. Policymakers and researchers often have different priorities for the use of evidence.  Policymaking is usually messy and fast paced, while evidence collection is usually linear and slow. 

What Is in the P20W Data Collection? P-20W Information For Parents, Teachers, Administrators, Planners, Policy-Makers, Researchers Routine Reports, Research Briefs, Ad Hoc Analyses, Research Datasets, Web Reports Employment Security Workforce-Industry, Hours, Earnings WTECB Lic Private Career Schools L&I Registered Apprenticeships PCHEES Students, Courses, Degrees, Majors OSPI K-12 Students, Courses, Graduation, Teachers DCYF ECEAP, ESIT, Providers NSC Out of state & WA priv postsecondary WSAC Financial Aid, College Bound DOC Inmate Education SBCTC Students, Courses, Completions, Majors DEL: Dept of Early Learning DOC: Dept of Corrections NSC: National Student Clearinghouse WSAC – Washington Student Achievement Council L&I: Labor and Industries OSPI: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (K12) PCHEES: Public Centralized Higher Education Enrollment System SBCTC: State Board for Community and Technical Colleges WTECB: Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board

Longitudinal Data Spans the Sectors Early Learning ECEAP (Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program) -- children served -- assessments -- providers ESIT (Early Support for Infants and Toddlers) K-12 -- Enrollment -- Courses, grades -- Programs (ELL, etc.) -- Free/Reduced Meal Eligibility -- Assessments -- Career & Technical Education -- Dual credit -- Graduation -- Teachers Postsecondary --Enrollment, courses, completions -- WA public 4-year institutions -- Community & Technical Colleges -- National Student Clearinghouse -- Apprenticeships -- GED -- Financial aid Career Employment -- Earnings -- Hours worked -- Industry Unemployment benefits Education & Training Early Learning Education/Training

ERDC Research Activities Type of research Policy/program evaluation Trajectory analysis Data quality evaluation Research areas Evaluations of social programs and educational outcomes Returns to education Returns to education: workforce, juvenile justice, incarceration

How Does P20W Benefit Institutional Research? College preparation, enrollment, persistence, and completion Choice of major Financial aid Returns of education (credentials) to workforce Career connected learning: School-to-career pathways

Type of Research Deliverables Data Dashboard: Tracking longitudinal patterns Policy brief Research paper Technical report Data usage and methodology discussion Research with descriptive or predictive analysis Policy evaluation (e.g. state financial aid for college student) Problem-driven (e.g. income disparity for college graduates) Subject base (e.g. teacher mobility and turnover)

Example 1: Earnings for Graduates Dashboard (Source: https://erdc.wa.gov/data-dashboards/earnings-for-graduates)

Example 1: Earnings for Graduates Dashboard (cont’d) (Source: https://erdc.wa.gov/data-dashboards/earnings-for-graduates)

Example 2: State Need Grant Evaluation (Source: ERDC publication webpage)

Example 2: State Need Grant Evaluation (cont’d) (Source: ERDC publication webpage)

Example 2: State Need Grant Evaluation (cont’d) (Source: ERDC publication webpage)

Example 3: High School to College STEM Pipeline

Example 4: Spatial Inequality of STEM Cultivation Main finding: Schools with higher proportion of graduates earning college STEM credit are more likely to cluster around the areas with close access to higher education institutions or STEM industry.

Data Used for These Studies Data element Source sector Earning dashboard State Need Grant STEM pipeline Demographics Higher edu X Enrollment Course CIP codes State course codes K-12 Degree major CIP codes Degree completion School report card School location American Community Survey

Using Longitudinal Administrative Data for Institutional Research Strength Tied with policy and public goods Population data History of student learning trajectories (e.g. enrollment, coursework, completion) Institutional characteristics Weakness Limitations from data availability & quality might impact the depth of research Collection scope Completeness Reliability: Measurements are not always comparable across schools, districts, and years

Contact ERDC www.erdc.wa.gov Vivien.chen@ofm.wa.gov P.O. Box 43124 Olympia, WA 98504, USA +1-360-902-0599