7. Data Infrastructure

In summer 2021, California passed legislation to create the Cradle-to-Career System, which will be a suite of user-friendly resources focused on early learning through K-12 and higher education, as well as on the financial aid and social services that help students reach their goals. It will include:

• Planning and application tools for students, families, and educators to streamline the college and financial aid processes and monitor student progress.
• A linked research data set that will be accessible via dashboards, query tools, and an analytical data set for researchers, policymakers, educators, and community members to inform research, advocacy, and policy analysis.
• Community engagement and training to raise awareness of the data system and ensure it can be used by students, families, educators, researchers, and policymakers.

In spring 2022, data sharing agreements with 15 education, social services, and workforce entities were signed, and the state started procurements that will ensure the system is efficient, secure and leverages modern tools.  

The Cross-Systems Analytics and Assessment for Learning and Skills Attainment (CAAL-Skills) is an interagency initiative that integrates data from workforce system partners in employment training and development, apprenticeship standards, social services, education, and corrections to enable the analysis and evaluation of programs. It is actively undergoing an academic evaluation and technical improvements to allow it to interface with other systems.

California Nature is a public Geographic Information System that supports efforts to conserve 30% of the state’s lands and waters by 2030 for biodiversity protection (30×30) and to use Natural and Working Lands (NWL) to mitigate climate change and increase resilience to its effects. CA Nature is built on authoritative data about the state’s biodiversity, land management, land cover, and present and projected climate.      

Additionally, the state launched the first of its kind integrated data system for people experiencing homelessness. Through this dashboard, California policymakers and the public can understand and create novel insights of people experiencing homelessness to end homelessness.

The Colorado Information Marketplace is the state’s open data repository with more than 2,000 datasets intended to increase government transparency. Additionally, the 2021 Colorado data law requires each agency to conduct an inventory of its own data assets, with assistance from the Office of Information Technology and the Government Data Advisory Board (GDAB). This inventory is still in development, though some agencies have already started on the effort, and it is being coordinated by the Chief Data Officer.

The 2021 State of Colorado Recovery Plan for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds described investments to improve the Colorado Department of Healthcare Policy and Finance’s various data infrastructures, which include upgrades to IT systems and infrastructure, as well as the data and information these systems collect. Examples of these investments in data infrastructure include:

• Conducting a system mapping of program and IT systems to determine a mechanism to share data and information across offices in partnership with the Office of Aging and Adult Services within the Department of Human Services.
• Connecting case management agencies to the Colorado Regional Health Information Exchange Organization (CORHIO) to obtain hospital admission data in real-time.
• Expanding the infrastructure for a Social Health Information Exchange (SHIE) which provides case management agencies, regional healthcare coordinators, care coordinators, and health care providers with real-time connections to resources like food, energy assistance, wellness programs, and more, in partnership with the Office of eHealth Innovation.
• Investing in data repositories that enable more robust insights into gaps in care as well as the providers and services with positive outcomes, supports, and programs for individuals receiving home and community based services.

Beyond state open data, the Colorado Governor’s Office and the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab co-designed the Linked Information Network of Colorado (LINC) to facilitate data sharing for research and analytics in 2019. The network is designed to share data across state agencies and provide de-identified data to perform robust, academically rigorous research to inform policy. LINC has a three-tier legal structure, which includes: (1) an enterprise memorandum of understanding (eMOU) signed by all data providers; (2) data-sharing agreements to secure, handle, and anonymize data for all LINC projects; and (3) data licenses with roles and responsibilities for users of LINC project data. Additionally, several state agencies – including the departments of higher education, labor and employment, and human services and entities (Colorado Workforce Development Council, and the Colorado Community College System) are working together to build a data trust to share data among state agencies for specific use cases, which will assist in sharing data in a well-governed and highly secure manner.

Connecticut’s statewide longitudinal data system, P20 WIN, brings together workforce, education, and supportive services data to inform educational policy and practice. Created by participating agencies, it houses extensive documentation, including data-sharing agreements, a robust data management process, and a data dictionary. In 2021, P20 WIN expanded to include information from state human service agencies, in addition to education and workforce agencies.

In 2021, in addition to creation of the GIS Office, the Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) launched GIS open data portals, which will eventually be incorporated into a statewide GIS clearinghouse. The development of the Hubs supports the state’s efforts to provide public access to critical department datasets. Linkages between the DOT and DEEP Open Data Hubs and the State of Connecticut’s Open Data portal create a single access point for public use of timely and authoritative data.

In January 2018, with support from the AISP Learning Community initiative, key members of the Delaware Governor’s Family Services Cabinet Council (FSCC) began collaborating to develop the Delaware Integrated Data System (DIDS) to jointly use information from multiple agencies that provide services to Delaware’s families. The primary goals of the DIDS are to link disparate data from numerous state programs and develop predictive analytics to help verify best methods for providing meaningful assistance. According to the launch announcement: “the system will help Delaware coordinate services and support young people and families in Wilmington who are at high risk of violence, and bolster the ongoing work of the Family Services Cabinet Council.” DIDS is hosted by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Technology & Information (DTI). DTI is also home to Delaware’s Open Data Portal supports data sharing with the public and currently has 364 datasets available.

Florida’s PK-20 Education Data Warehouse provides public access to data linked across elementary and secondary education, university, and workforce outcomes. This comprehensive longitudinal data system supports the state’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) plan’s commitments to evidence-based professional development and continuous improvement.

The Georgia Cross-Agency Child Data System is an early childhood integrated data system that links data from multiple child-serving agencies. By matching longitudinal data across multiple programs and data systems, decision-makers can leverage the platform to identify service gaps, create opportunities for analysis and research, and provide an integrated and aligned approach to meet the needs of children. The system, which is guided by a policy manual, has publicly available data tools and reports.

Iowa’s Integrated Data System for Decision-Making (i2d2) is an integrated data system, overseen by a governing board and coordinated among health, social service, and education agencies, that comprehensively identifies and addresses the needs of Iowa’s young children and families. Since launching in 2016, i2d2 has been used to better understand early childhood service utilization and the early childhood workforce, including supporting a comprehensive statewide needs assessment as part of a Preschool Development Grant B-5.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, Illinois Board of Higher Education, Illinois Community College Board, and Illinois State University have partnered to share workforce, financial aid, and university data for the Illinois “College2Career” resource. The integrated data platform highlights outcome metrics such as average earnings, earnings growth, and job stability for graduates of Illinois institutions of higher education. The program seeks to use these data to help Illinois students make informed education and workforce decisions.

The Dynamic Network Analysis, instituted by the Illinois Health Care Fraud Elimination Task Force, integrates and analyzes Illinois Department of Health and Family Services’ (HFS) Medicaid data – as well as data from Medicare, driver’s licenses, business services, death records, and incarcerations – to find fraud in the state’s health programs. The system has helped HFS to save, avoid paying, or recoup $94 million in a single fiscal year.

The Indiana Management Performance Hub (MPH), overseen by the state’s Chief Data Officer, houses the integrated Education and Workforce Development database, which brings together data from 12 state agencies, including: the Commission for Higher Education, Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Corrections, Department of Workforce Development, and Family and Social Services Administration. In addition, MPH has created integrated databases to address pressing program and policy issues related to COVD-19, opioids, Medicaid, fiscal transparency, and other areas. Indiana’s open data is shared through the Indiana Management Performance Hub’s Indiana Data Hub, as well as a publicly available data catalog. It has more than 180 publicly available open datasets on various topics. MPH has been at the forefront of using data to drive decision-making for Indiana’s COVID-19 response, including a study to better understand the prevalence of the coronavirus and/or its antibodies. Moreover, MPH has undergone infrastructure improvements since 2020. For example, the Enhanced Research Environment (ERE) has supported Indiana’s data-driven response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ERE, a secure collaboration environment, expedites research and analysis by bringing research teams to leverage data for action for the pandemic response and is structured to provide value to a multitude of data initiatives.  

A 2013 Kentucky law established the Kentucky Center for Statistics (KYSTATS), which collects and links high-quality, actionable data from six state agencies to improve education and workforce programs in the state. By providing data sets, publishing reports, and fulfilling research requests, the center provides state-specific insights with appropriate data privacy and data access controls. It has more than 40 staff members who are dedicated to “developing reports, responding to research requests, and providing statistical data about these efforts so policymakers, agencies, and the general public can make better-informed decisions.” The Center is run by an executive director with oversight from a board composed of participating state agencies, and the center has developed a research agenda for 2020-2022 focused on issues of equity.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health maintains a Public Health Data Warehouse that leverages public and private partnerships to provide timely, linked, multi-year data to analyze health priorities through data briefs and data digests. The Department also created a COVID-19 Response Reporting hub that publishes data and cumulative reports on Massachusetts COVID-19 cases, testing, and hospitalizations.

Maryland’s Total Human-services Integrated Network (MD THINK) is a cross-agency collaboration between the Department of Health, Department of Human Services, Department of Juvenile Services, MD Health Benefit Exchange, and the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Through this cloud-based platform, MD THINK is designed to improve delivery of human services statewide by streamlining a variety of state agency interfaces into a single sign-on platform for residents, while also reducing costs and burdens associated with the technical, legal, and policy coordination of multiple data and services delivery platforms. The solution enables residents to apply for and manage a host of integrated health and human services. For example, a family on Medicaid and receiving Temporary Assistance for a Disability may also trigger an alert for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and other emergency social services.

On July 7, 2022, the Maryland Governor announced the launch of the Center of Excellence on Health and Human Services Analytics and Applications as the latest development for MD THINK that enhances data analytics, thus enabling state agencies to deliver better service to Maryland residents.

In 2019, Maryland unveiled an updated open data portal with an expanded catalog of data covering education, health, criminal justice, child welfare, workforce, and economic mobility. The state’s Council on Open Data governs the portal and meets on a quarterly basis to coordinate, plan, and promote Maryland’s open data, regularly publishing its agenda and minutes. In addition, the Maryland Transparency Portal provides information about the state’s operating budget, state grants, and payments to vendors.

In 2019, Maryland unveiled an updated open data portal with an expanded catalog of data covering education, health, criminal justice, child welfare, workforce, and economic mobility. The state’s Council on Open Data governs the portal and meets on a quarterly basis to coordinate, plan, and promote Maryland’s open data, regularly publishing its agenda and minutes. In addition, the Maryland Transparency Portal provides information about the state’s operating budget, state grants, and payments to vendors.

A 2010 Maryland law established the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Center as an independent agency to bring together education and workforce data from the Maryland Higher Education Commission, the Maryland State Department of Education, and the Maryland Department of Labor. In partnership with the University of Maryland System and under the guidance of a governing board, the Center’s 12 staff members produce a variety of publications about student performance at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary level to improve the state’s education system and guide decision-makers at all levels.

Issue Areas: Education, Workforce

Minnesota has robust technology infrastructure with appropriate privacy controls for internal and external data sharing. Examples of public portals include the Minnesota Geospatial Commons, Transparency Minnesota, the Statewide Longitudinal Education Dataset, and the open data catalog.

The Evidence Base Demographics data tool, launched in late 2020, provides information on the demographic composition – race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or education, for example – of the people included in studies that are reported by national research clearinghouses, regardless of where they are located. It also allows users to dig into the Minnesota Inventory, providing access to data that can help illustrate who is reflected in the evidence base and whether specific groups and constituencies are represented.

Minnesota’s Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System and Early Childhood Education Data System match administrative education and employment data from five state agencies. Together, these two systems form a P-20 education data system, which captures, analyzes, and uses student data from preschool to high school, college, and the workforce. The agencies created a public tool to allow for analysis of aggregate-level educational data, including the ability to look at disparities in educational achievement, college graduation rates, employment, and other indicators.

Mississippi LifeTracks is an interoperable data system, governed by an interagency board, that supports research and analysis by providing linkages among early childhood, K-12 education, postsecondary education, and workforce data to improve career-readiness outcomes for students.

The North Carolina Government Data Analytics Center (GDAC) operates as a division of the state’s department of information technology, which works to transform data into information that facilitates decision support, increases operational efficiencies, and improves outcomes for North Carolina residents by integrating and sharing data assets. GDAC has deployed a statewide Enterprise Entity Resolution (pp. 24-27) infrastructure and processes that were developed to match entities or cluster individual record data across disparate data sources to a common entity (i.e., single person, single business). As such, the platform enabled extensive records matching that improved the state’s public health response to COVID-19 and analysis of identity theft associated with unemployment benefit recipients.

• The North Carolina Early Childhood Integrated Data System (NC ECIDS) is a single source for integrated early childhood data for selected education, health, and social services programs to help answer key policy and program questions, produce reports, and fulfill research requests that support state priorities for young children and families.
• The North Carolina Longitudinal Data System (NCLDS) links early childhood, education, and workforce data—from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, North Carolina Community College System, University of North Carolina System, North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, and North Carolina Department of Commerce —together to enable cross-sector, longitudinal research, and evaluation. The Executive Director of the NCLDS directs this work to provide knowledge that can inform decision-making around the state’s P-20 education systems, improve educational attainment, and support workforce objectives.
• The North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management operates Log Into North Carolina (LINC), an interactive data retrieval service containing over 900 data items and a subdomain for the State Demographer platform, which houses the latest data produced by the North Carolina Demographer.
• The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) operates DHHS Open Window, a website which captures information about agency services, programs, and the contracts that support those services. DHHS Open Window also contains key planning and performance information for the agency as well as its divisions and offices.

New Jersey partners with Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, to operate the New Jersey Education to Earnings Data System (NJEEDS), a statewide longitudinal data system designed to improve the performance of state education and workforce initiatives. NJEEDS is overseen by an executive leadership council and convenes a data stewards work group from relevant state agencies. Four state agencies also partner with Rutgers to operate the Integrated Population Health Data project to promote population health research.

New Jersey has technology infrastructure to support data sharing and usage, across agencies, with external partners, and with the public. For cross-agency data sharing and use, the New Jersey Office of Information Technology (NJOIT) maintains an enterprise data warehouse, consisting of the New Jersey Administrative Warehouse System and agency-specific data marts. In addition, NJOIT maintains a business intelligence reporting service that allows the State’s executive branch agencies to analyze and report on data from both data warehouse and data mart infrastructures.

The New Jersey Open Data Portal harnesses the power of reusability and modularity to create a centralized layer of application programming interfaces (APIs) that connect data and libraries of software components to enable rapid development of AI applications across the enterprise. In this model, application development becomes less about building new functionality from scratch, and more about orchestrating existing, complementary functionality to drive scale and scope.

The Nevada P-20 to Workforce Research Data System integrates data from the state’s PK-12, higher education, and workforce agencies. With a commitment to data privacy, the system leaves all private data behind agency firewalls and uses an algorithm to de-identify data during the matching process. A wide variety of reports provide agency leaders greater insights into Nevada’s education and workforce programs, initiatives, and outcomes.

Codified by state statute in 2017, Oregon’s Open Data Program allows state agencies to inventory, prioritize, and publish open datasets to improve transparency and internal data sharing among state agencies and government partners. Oregon’s Open Data Program Resources links contain information on the state’s Open Data Standard, webinars held by the Chief Data Officer, and external tools and resources.

A 2017 Oregon law requires the Chief Data Officer to create an enterprise memorandum of understanding to facilitate data sharing across state agencies. To support this approach, the Chief Data Officer has convened integrated data users and leaders from across the state. The State Longitudinal Data System, launched in 2018, brings together education and workforce data. The Sustainable Solutions for Accelerated Learning (SSAL) Work Group and Trauma-Informed Pilot Project identify areas of inequities for increased funding. To further advance this data integration across the state, a 2021 state law created a “system of care advisory council” responsible for integrating appropriate data to help determine holistic care and support needs within health, education, public safety, and other program services. The System of Care Council has produced an initial version of a system of care dashboard to identify youth served within Oregon’s systems of care.

Various Pennsylvania agencies have used data to improve results for residents in several ways, demonstrating a commitment to the state’s 2017 data executive order. Examples of this include the Department of Health’s use of a common data platform to gather and report data from statewide and national sources, as well as peer-reviewed literature and guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House, when making public health decisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the platform is publicly reported and available daily. To manage the state’s opioid response, the Department of Health’s opioid data dashboard, which combines cross-agency data, is used to inform policy, budget, and management decisions by the state’s Opioid Command Center, an interagency group of officials coordinating the state’s response to the opioid epidemic and substance use disorder services.

A 2019 Pennsylvania executive order established the Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command to address the state’s workforce shortage and talent needs, recommend action to reduce or eliminate impediments to employment, and improve alignment of resources with private sector needs to build a skilled workforce and improve Pennsylvania’s economic vitality. The Workforce Command Center leverages the state open data portal for decision- and policymaking through a data dashboard, which is publicly available.

Use of the PA Open Data Portal continues to increase each year. The attached graphic shows the rise in currently public assets, including datasets, stories/visualizations, and other open data pages since 2016.

The Rhode Island Ecosystem is an analytic system, managed by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, that links data at the person and family level across state agencies to drive holistic improvements in human well-being. An inter-agency memorandum of understanding (IMOU) outlines the data-sharing process and permissible uses for cross-agency data. Several high-impact uses have been conducted, including projects focused on opioid use disorder and child maltreatment prevention. More recently, the ecosystem has collaborated with partners in state government to support a public dashboard that tracks Rhode Island COVID-19 cases and response, as well as internal daily dashboards for the Governor and other high-level policymakers on system capacity.

In response to the federal COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, Rhode Island’s Department of Labor and Training partnered with the nonprofit Research Improving People’s Lives and Amazon Web Services to develop a cloud-based system to share data and improve management of unemployment claims to support rollout of thePandemic Unemployment Assistance COVID-19 pandemic.

The South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office maintains an integrated data system, a data warehouse that links data from individuals being served by more than 20 state agencies and other organizations. It is maintained in a secure data center and has facilitated program improvement efforts and numerous research studies, including a randomized controlled trial. In 2020, the state shared its updated report on how it would utilize the integrated data system to support COVID-19 Response.

Tennessee leverages a longitudinal data system, P20 Connect TN, to link education, labor and workforce, human services, children’s services, and economic data at the individual level to produce insights for programmatic investments. For example, connected K-12, postsecondary, and labor data have enabled the study of the outcomes of the Tennessee Promise program that has informed program implementation both in Tennessee and in other states.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) administers the Texas Student Data System, a statewide platform for collecting, managing, sharing, and reporting state education data. The Workforce Information System of Texas (TWIST) links data across workforce funding streams for intake, eligibility determination, and reporting on programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Employment and Training, and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Data from both systems can be queried to produce internal reports. Each agency maintains its participant data in independent, non-linked data systems. Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), Texas Higher Education Commission and Board (THECB), and Texas Education Agency (TEA) signed a single comprehensive MOU for data sharing between the three agencies in July of 2022.

Utah’s open data portal was established in 2014 and is managed by the State Open Data Coordinator under the Chief Technology Officer. The open data portal includes over 8,000 datasets from federal, state, county, and city agency sources. Public data and dashboards may also be found across several state and agency websites, including: Department of Workforce Services, Department of Transportation, COVID-19, Department of Environmental Quality, and Utah Health Care Compare.

In 2020, Virginia utilized its existing Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT) to share new data and provide actionable information as part of the state’s COVID-19 response. FAACT – a cross-agency, cloud-based, data-sharing and analytics platform – was previously used as part of the state’s work on the opioid crisis to generate actionable insights about the contributing factors to opioid abuse, as well as to collate the most effective community responses. According to the Beeck Center, since the launch of FAACT in 2017, Virginia has seen a decrease in the number of drug overdose deaths involving opioids.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia’s workforce system launched an improved integrated data system in 2020, governed by a data trust, that improves user experience through the new Virginia Career Works Referral Portal. The related Virginia Career Works Dashboard is a data visualization tool that conveys information about labor conditions and allows agencies to make real-time, data-driven decisions. These innovative systems demonstrated a potential cost savings of more than 94% over traditional approaches.

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Research and Data Analysis (RDA) division provides policymakers with data and analyses to improve the effectiveness of services for clients. RDA maintains integrated client databases, which bring together data from 10 state agencies, 40 separate data systems, and individuals receiving services through publicly funded health and human services programs in Washington. Among many other applications, predictive modeling and clinical decision support tools developed and maintained in RDA’s integrated data environment have been used by the state’s Health Home Program to generate tens of millions of dollars in performance payments from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as the result of improved care management for persons dually enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.

The Education Research and Data Center (ERDC), integrates data across multiple education, workforce, other state agencies, and institutions to conduct collaborative analyses from early learning through postsecondary education and training and into the workforce. ERDC brings together more than a dozen partners to compile education and workforce data to improve student achievement and workforce outcomes. The ERDC is directed to provide research that focuses on student transitions within and among the early learning, K-12, and higher education sectors in the P-20 system. The ERDC shares data with the education and workforce agencies and also shares education and workforce data with external data requesters proposing to audit or evaluate state or local education programs.

The Wisconsin Early Childhood Integrated Data System integrates data from the state Departments of Children and Families, Health Services, and Public Instruction. The system links, collects, and monitors early childhood data from 11 state programs. The state engaged in an inclusive planning process to design the system, which, although not an integrated data warehouse, provides for data sharing among relevant state agencies. The system also has strong privacy protections, including an overarching memorandum of understanding and individual data-sharing agreements from the Departments of Children and Families, Health Services, and Public Instruction, which are used with each interagency data-sharing project.