Office of the Chief Data Officer

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TITLE II—OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA ACT

Evidence Act 101
Office of the Chief Data Officer

Overview

•Background

•Highlights of Title II

•Connections and Collaboration at ED

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Background

•1995: Term “open data” first appeared

•2009/10: Open Government Directive and Data.gov

•2013: Open Data Policy—Managing Information as an Asset (M-13-13)

•2015: Digital Accountability and Transparency Act 

•2016: OPEN Government Data Act first introduced as a stand-alone bill in 2016

•2017: Key provisions of the bill incorporated into Title II of the Evidence Act

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Office of the Chief Data Officer

Highlights of Title II

•Definitions

•Make data “open by default”

•Information dissemination

•Data inventory and Federal Data Catalogue

•Statutory responsibilities of Chief Data Officers

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Office of the Chief Data Officer

Definitions

•Data: recorded information, regardless of form or medium

•Machine-readable: in a format that can be easily processed by a computer without 

human intervention while ensuring no semantic meaning is lost

•Open Government Data Asset: a public data asset that is—

◦ Machine-readable

◦ Available (or could be made available) in an open format

◦ Not encumbered by restrictions, other than intellectual property rights...that would impede the 

use or reuse of such asset

◦ Based on an underlying open standard that is maintained by a standards organization

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Make Data Open by Default

•OMB Guidance on agency Open Data Plans

◦ Considering privacy, security, costs/benefits, intellectual property, and confidential business 

information

•Agency Open Data Plan in the Strategic Information Resources Plan

◦ Includes a process to evaluate and improve the timeliness, completeness, consistency, 

accuracy, usefulness, and availability of open government data assets

◦ Identifies priority data assets for disclosure in the public interest

◦ Includes a method for collecting data usage metrics

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Office of the Chief Data Officer

Information Dissemination

•Ensure that any public data asset of the agency is machine-readable

•Engage the public in using public data assets and encourage collaboration by

◦ Publishing data usage

◦ Allowing the public to request specific data assets to be prioritized for disclosure

◦ Hosting challenges, competitions, events, or other initiatives to create additional value from 

agency public data assets

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Office of the Chief Data Officer

Data Inventory and Federal Data Catalogue

•Each agency shall “to the extent practicable, develop and maintain a comprehensive 

data inventory that accounts for all data assets created by, collected by, under the 

control or direction of, or maintained by the agency,” including:

◦ Metadata on each data asset

◦ Methods by which the public may access or request access to the data asset

•GSA shall “maintain a single public interface online as a point of entry dedicated to 

sharing agency data assets with the public”

◦ Builds on data.gov

•GSA shall “develop and maintain an online repository of tools, best practices, and 

schema standards to facilitate the adoption of open data practices

◦ resources.data.gov

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Office of the Chief Data Officer

CDO Responsibilities

•Governance

◦ Leading the agency’s Data Governance Body

◦ Coordinating with other agency officials to support evidence building

◦ Supporting the agency’s learning agenda, including supporting the Evaluation Officer in 

obtaining data

◦ Engaging agency staff, the public, and contractors in using data and collaborating to improve 

data use

•Data Lifecycle Management

◦ Managing the agency’s data assets

◦ Following data management best practices

◦ Leading the development of the Open Data Plan

◦ Managing the agency’s OMB clearance process under the PRA

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Office of the Chief Data Officer

Connections and Collaboration at ED

•Data Governance Board

◦ Includes senior career officials from each office, plus the Evaluation Officer, the Statistical 

Official, and the Performance Improvement Officer

◦ The CDO, EO, and SO meet monthly for dedicated time to discuss coordination

•Data Lifecycle Management

◦ Completed a Data Maturity Assessment for each office and enterprise-wide. Using the results 

to develop the ED Data Strategy by engaging staff from across the agency to focus on top 

priorities.

•Information Dissemination

◦ The development of the ED Open Data Platform engaged data stewards from across the 

agency

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Thank you!

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Sharon A. Boivin, Ph.D,

Deputy Chief Data Officer for Analytics

Office of the Chief Data Officer

U.S. Department of Education

Sharon.Boivin@ed.gov

ED Office of the Chief Data Officer

https://www.linkedin.com/company/edocdo/