Guidance Materials to Support the Use of Hawai'i-Specific, Publicly Available Data Sources
Author: Regional Educational Laboratory Pacific (ED)
Date: 2014-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Data,Information Sources,Access to Information,State Departments of Education,Public Agencies,Schools,Educational Indicators,Accountability,College Readiness,Career Readiness,Public Schools,Hawaiians,Educational Attainment,Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,State Surveys,National Surveys,Census Figures,Special Education,High School Graduates,Child Health,Limited English Speaking,Community Surveys,Federal Programs,School Effectiveness,Universities,Elementary Secondary Education,Social Indicators,Academic Degrees,Enrollment,Early Childhood Education,National Competency Tests,Institutional Characteristics,School Districts,Science Education,Engineering Education

Effective evidence-based action requires getting the right data into the right hands at the right time to help make decisions. The Data Quality Campaign (2011) has provided suggestions to state education agencies for effectively using data within state longitudinal data systems. One suggestion is to identify &quot;the variety of ways available data can be used and the types of analyses required to answer critical policy questions&quot;. In addition to answering policy questions, publicly available data sources have the potential to assist educators, policy makers, and other education stakeholders in Hawai'i with making evidence-based decisions related to education policy, programming, and support. As such, this document provides guidance to education researchers on how to access publicly available data sources, the questions that can be supported by the data sources, and the limitations of the data sources in order to support the advancement of education research and evidence-based decision making in Hawai'i. To identify available sources of publicly available data specific to Hawai'i, REL Pacific researchers solicited recommendations from 2013 Annual Hawaii Partnership for Educational Research Consortium (HPERC) Symposium attendees. REL Pacific researchers examined the list provided by the symposium attendees to identify data sources that were publicly available, Hawai'i-specific, and address at least one of HPERC's nine research priority areas (see Appendix A for the methods used to vet the data sources for inclusion in this document). The nine HPERC priority areas are: (1) Teacher training; (2) Technology-supported curriculum/use of technology in the classroom; (3) English language learner services and support; (4) Teacher evaluation; (5) Graduation rate; (6) Model schools/best practices; (7) NCLB requirement waivers/redefining school success; (8) Instructional time; and (9) Special education services. The data sources included in this document are divided into state and national data sources. Of the 11 state data sources, the Hawaii State Department of Education maintains four, Kamehameha Schools houses three, and the University of Hawai'i (UH) manages four. For the national data sources, the Department of Education maintains two data sources, Department of Health and Human Services houses two data sources, the Department of Labor maintains one data source, the National Science Foundation maintains one data source, and the U.S. Census Bureau houses one data source, totaling seven national data sources. In total, in-depth information on 18 publicly available, Hawai'i-specific data sources that can be used by education researchers to address at least one of HPERC's nine research priority areas is provided in this document. The following are appended: (1) Methodology; (2) Data Source Table; (3) Accountability Data Center; (4) College and Career Readiness Indicators Reports; (5) Hawaii Public Schools Reports for IDEA Part B; (6) Strive HI Performance System; (7) After Graduation Plan for KS Class of 2006; (8) Native Hawaiian Educational Attainment Charts; (9) No Child Left Behind, 2004; (10) Center on the Family Data Center; (11) Hawai'i School Health Survey: Youth Risk Behavior Survey; (12) Institutional Research and Analysis Office; (13) KIDS COUNT Data Center; (14) State Education Data Profiles (Common Core of Data); (15) 2009-10 &amp; 2011-12 District or School Reports (Civil Rights Data Collection); (16) Detailed Data Tables (Civil Rights Data Collection); (17) State and National Estimations (Civil Rights Data Collection); (18) National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs; (19) National Survey of Children's Health; (20) Special Tabulations of U.S. Census Data--Limited English Proficiency; (21) Science and Engineering Indicators 2014 State Data Tool; and (22) U.S. Census Bureau's 2008-2012 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.