Hawaii

The following profile is a representation of the Hawaii public education state longitudinal data system (SLDS) as presented through publicly available resources of public primary, secondary and higher education, information made available to the public through the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the Data Quality Campaign, published research articles, other third party internet resources (as noted), and direct contact with state and federal public education officials. It is not a formal program evaluation.

The information provided is intended for use by academic researchers, state and federal public education policy makers, educators, and student households.

Introduction

The Hawaii Data eXchange Partnership (Hawaii DXP)[1] is Hawaii’s public education state longitudinal data system (SLDS)[2] governed by the Hawaii DXP Executive Committee, an interagency executive committee that serves as the final decision making body for all matters that involve the Hawaii DXP. The Hawaii DXP, created for the purpose of collecting and analyzing Hawaii public education data at the individual, course, institution, and system level, aggregates data records from the breadth of the Hawaii public education systems. The combined data collection systems are part of a nation-wide effort to record granular public education detail over time in order to document the entirety of students’ education experience. This information is intended to be available for analysis and public policy consideration for the purpose of producing improvements in student learning at elementary, secondary, post-secondary, and higher education levels, and to optimize labor market outcomes, individually and generally.

Hawaii is one of the 47 states having received public funding to create a state longitudinal data system (SLDS). Despite state-to-state differences, each SLDS shares a common purpose of supporting research and analysis with the intent of informing individual, household, and public policy decisions based on standardized criteria.

[1] The Hawaiii Data eXchange Partnership enables state agencies to link education and workforce data to answer questions critical to understanding Hawai’i’s future education workforce needs http://hawaiidxp.org/#
[2] State longitudinal data systems are intended to enhance the ability of states to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education data https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/about_SLDS.asp

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Evaluation Criteria

This review assesses the overall quality of the Hawai’i DXP as an SLDS by considering the nature of the organization maintaining the data system, those agencies and institutions providing inputs to the data system, and to which agencies and institutions the data systems’ outputs are available. The assessment also considers the data system’s funding mechanisms, internal and external researcher data accessibility, the quality of the data system’s public user interface (dashboard), and the data system’s current Data Quality Campaign (DQC)[1] ranking. This report considers each of these criteria pertaining to the Hawaii DXP and provides contact information to the departments and individuals who maintain and manage the SLDS.

[1] The Data Quality Campaign is a national, nonprofit organization leading the effort to bring every part of the education community together to empower educators, parents, and policymakers with quality information to make decisions that ensure students excel http://dataqualitycampaign.org/

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Governance and Maintenance

The Hawaii DXP is governed by the Hawaii DXP Executive Committee, an interagency executive committee that serves as the final decision making body for all matters that involve the Hawaii DXP. The Executive Committee has a number of responsibilities that include resolving disputes involving the data system, allocating resources to sustain the data systems core functions, and approving all data governance policies developed by the Hawaii DXP Data Governance and Access Committee. The Executive Committee makes decisions through a consensus voting process which allocates voting power to the executive officer of each participating state agency or institution. It is comprised of members from the following state agencies and institutions:[1]

• Executive Office of Early Education (EOEL)
  • Director
  • Superintendent
  • Assistant Superintendent & CIO
  • Director, Data Governance
  • Executive Vice President, Academic Affairs
  • Vice President/CIO, Information Technology Services
  • Vice President, Community Colleges
  • Executive Director, Hawai’i P-20 Partnerships for Education
  • Director, Research & Statistics
  • Administrator, Unemployment Insurance Division
  • Executive Director
  • State Chief Information Officer

  The Hawaii DXP Data Governance and Access Committee (DG&A Committee) operates under the Executive Committee and is responsible for overseeing and managing the data system. The DG&A Committee has a number of responsibilities which include developing and implementing policies for the data system, enforcement of all approved policies, and approving processes related to policy proposed by sub-committees. The DG&A Committee also provides oversight, management support, and conflict resolution to all sub-committees. Additionally, it defines the roles of participating state agencies and institutions in relation to the data system as well as the levels of access to data these partners receive. It is comprised of members from the following state agencies and institutions:[2]

  • Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE)
    • Assistant Superintendent, Office of Strategic Reform
    • Director, Data Governance
    • Chancellor, Honolulu Community College
    • Director, Data Governance
    • Director, Institutional Research & Analysis Office (IRAO)
    • Project Director, Hawaii Data eXchange Partnership
    • Program Manager, Hawaii Data eXchange Partnership
    • Security Officer, Information Technology Services
    • Director, Research & Statistics
    • Administrator, Unemployment Insurance Division
    • WorLDS Project Manager
    • Employment Analyst

    There are three separate sub-committees that serve under the DG&A Committee, the Research and Data Request sub-committee (RDR), the Security and Access sub-committee (S&A), and the Data Quality sub-committee (DQ). The RDR sub-committee is responsible for developing and implementing guidelines for the review and prioritization of cross-sector research and data requests. It also reviews and approves all data requests, reviews all modifications to approved data requests, and reviews all complete reports and studies prior to their public release. The S&A develops and implements processes for best practices in audit and monitoring for the security of the Hawai’i DXP. It also develops and implements the policy and processes for investigations of misuse of data from the data system. The DQ sub-committee is responsible for identifying data quality issues within the data system and cooperating with partners to resolve these issues. It also develops policies and processes for the correction of these issues. [3]

    [1] Information obtained from the Hawaii DXP Governance Organization Chart http://hawaiidxp.org/#/about/governance.html
    [2] Information obtained from the Hawai’i DXP Governance Organization Chart
    [3] Information obtained from the Hawaii DXP Data Governance Policy http://hawaiidxp.org/files/HawaiiDXP_Data_Governance_Policy_20161107.pdf

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    Data Providers

    The Hawaii DXP has established data sharing agreements between each of the state agencies and institutions participating on the Executive Committee as well as several other state agencies. These partners include the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE), the University of Hawaii (UH), the Hawaii Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR), the Hawai’i Department of Health (DOH), the Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS), and the Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education. These partners send data records to the Hawaii DXP data warehouse, the centralized data system which collects and maintains the data records used by the Hawaii DXP. The Hawaii DXP links these cross-sector data records to provide longitudinal analysis capabilities for research and reporting purposes.[1]

    The participating state agencies and institutions provide the following data records:

    • Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) – PK-12 data records
    • University of Hawaii (UH) – Higher-Ed data records
    • Hawaii Department of Labor & Industrial Relations (DLIR) – Employment data records
    • Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) – Patient data records
    • Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS) – Disabled/Assistance data records

    The Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) is the only public K-12 education system in Hawaii. It provides unit level data records on all students and educators in the public K-12 education system. The University of Hawaii (UH) is the only public higher education system in the state and is comprised of three university, seven community colleges, educational training centers and research centers. It provides unit level data records on all students and educators in the public higher education system. The Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) develops, prepares, and disseminates information on the state’s employment, unemployment, and general labor market conditions. It provides unit level employment and wage record data pertaining to the state’s labor force. The Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) provides programs and services in areas of diseases and immunization, family and behavioral health, and public and environmental health. It provides unit level data records pertaining to patient records and health related program participant records. The Hawaii Department of Health Services (DHS) administers programs, services and benefits to Hawaiian citizens in need, the disabled or persons requiring some form of assistance. It provides unit level data records pertaining to the state’s welfare, employment training, and affordable housing recipients.

    These partners provide data records to the Hawaii DXP, which are stored in a centralized data warehouse. These data records are transformed into de-identified data sets and assigned a unique identifier variable before they are stored in the data warehouse. This process allows the Hawai’i DXP to link data records pertaining to one individual from multiple data sources while ensuring that individual’s personally identifiable information is not at risk. The Hawaii uses these de-identified data sets to provide research and reports on the state’s education and workforce program initiatives.[2]

    [1] Information obtained from the Hawaii DXP online site http://hawaiidxp.org/#/partners/index.html
    [2] Information obtained from the Hawaii DXP online site http://hawaiidxp.org/#/resources/system-overview.html

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    Funding

    The HIDOE applied for federal funding through the Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grant program administered by the Institute of Education Sciences, an agency of the United States Department of Education, in 2009, 2012, and 2015. The HIDOE was awarded three federal grants, the 2009 SLDS Grant, the 2012 SLDS Grant, and the 2015 SLDS Grant for the purpose of developing and enhancing Hawaii’s SLDS. The 2009 SLDS Grant awarded Hawaii $3,477,053 for the purpose of developing the foundation components of the Hawaii DXP. This funding was used to pay for the various costs associated with the development of a data system, including: personnel costs, fringe benefits, travel costs, equipment costs, supplies costs, and contractual costs. The proposed outcomes to be produced using this funding include:[1]

    • Planning the SLDS
      • Advisory Committee and ITQC project plan signoff
      • Obtain Enterprise Architecture consultant to refine templates and metadata artifacts
      • Contractor to assist in collection enrollment-related artifacts
      • Document existing data and systems architecture
      • Conduct Affinity Analysis of Needs to current environment
      • Develop target SLDS architecture
      • Develop SLDS blueprint including privacy, integrity, and security functionality
      • Develop SLDS technical specifications
      • Obtain contractor and system development

      The 2012 SLDS Grant awarded Hawaii $3,386,694 for the purpose of develop the P20 capabilities of the Hawaii DXP. These funds were used to pay for the various costs associated with the development of a data system. The proposed outcomes to be produced using this funding were:[2]

      • Develop a coordinated management and sustainability plan that will ensure cross-agency collaboration and long-term support for the P20W SLDS as a statewide resource
      • Develop useful, accurate, actionable high-quality reports and information products utilizing data from the P20W SLDS for a variety of stakeholders to answer Hawai’i’s critical policy and research questions
      • Develop a culture of rigorous data use by providing an extensive training and professional development program focused on increasing the use of data by practicing educators and administrators; policymakers at all levels, teacher and administrator candidates, data entry staff to improve data quality, and other stakeholders

      The 2015 SLDS Grant awarded Hawaii $$6,642,010 for the purpose of strengthening the data systems that provide data records to the Hawaii DXP as well as expanding the total number of data sources from which it receives data records. The proposed outcomes to be produced using this funding include:[3]

      • College and Career Goals
        • Engage stakeholders to communicate the value of the Hawaii DXP as a statewide resource
        • Expand new data sources, particularly for at-risk populations, to improve robust data use across the state
        • Produce new reports and datasets in accessible formats for stakeholders
        • Develop plans to ensure efficient project management and sustained data use for student supports
        • Train HIDOE staff to integrate student support strategies and data use
        • Integrate new data sources, augment dashboards, and develop new reports

        [1] Information obtained from the Hawaii 2009 SLDS Grant application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Hawaii2009.pdf
        [2] Information obtained from the Hawaii 2012 SLDS Grant application https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/Hawaii2012.pdf
        [3] Information obtained from the Hawaii 2015 SLDS Grant abstract https://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/pdf/HI_FY15_Abstract.pdf

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        Research Accommodation

        Researchers interested in utilizing the datasets contained in the Hawaii DXP must submit a data request to the Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education. This data request will be reviewed by the Research and Data Request sub-committee (RDR). Data requests that meet the RDR’s approval criteria will be reviewed by the Data Governance and Access committee (DG&A) for final approval. The data request must contain the following information:[1]

        • Contact information
          • Requestor name
          • Position title
          • Organization
          • Department/program
          • Email address and phone number
          • Month and year requestor complete CITI training
          • Completion of the Hawaii DXP General Confidentiality Form
          • Institutional Review Board approval
          • Short description describing data request
          • Purpose of the data request, research question, and subject population
          • Specify which sectors/organization the requestor is requesting data from
          • List the data elements or type of data being requested
          • Specify the time period for the data being requested
          • Specify the data the requestor wishes to receive the data by
          • Specify if there is an expected completion data for the research
          • Intentions to publish data findings or making findings publicly available
          • How will the data be transferred to the requestor?
          • Where will the data be stored?
          • What protection mechanisms will used to secure the data?
          • How will the data be destroyed upon completion of the agreement?
          • Agreement to several required criteria
          • Signature

          [1] Information obtained from the Hawaii DXP Data Request Form http://hawaiidxp.org/files/HawaiiDXP_Data_Request_Form.pdf

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          Public User Portal

          The Hawaii DXP public user portal is operated by the Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education for the purpose of providing useful aggregate level data about various education issues to interested parties within the state of Hawaii. These parties include administrators, educators, policy makers, parents, students and other parties interested in the education outcomes within the state of Hawaii. The quality of the Hawaii DXP public user portal will be evaluated using several different criteria which include: the user-friendliness of the portal, the extent of data offered by the portal, whether the portal is self-sufficient or relies upon other webpages to provide information, and the extent of customizable reports that can be created using the portal.[1]

          • User-friendliness:
            • The Hawaii DXP portal is located within the Quick Data tab on the Hawaii DXP online home page. The portal, the College and Career Readiness Indicators, provides a summary about the information contained within it. It also contains a Help section which provides explanations about how to use and interpret the charts accessible through the portal. This Help section also contains a glossary that provides definitions for the terms and variables used in the portal.
            • The portal provides aggregate level data on education outcomes at both the high school and higher education levels. This data contains information about students’ education outcomes such as high school graduation rates, dual credit participation levels, Advanced Placement exams participation levels, college enrollment rates, and other outcomes. This information is offered on a statewide level as well as on an individual school level.
            • The portal provides direct access to each of the education categories and reports listed within it. In addition to this information, the portal lists quick links to each of the agencies and institutions partnered with the Hawaii DXP.
            • The portal allows interested parties to create reports that are customizable by specified school or cohort year. These customizable reports provide information about the high school and higher education outcomes of each school or cohort year. These outcomes include high school graduation rates, dual credit participation levels, college enrollment rates, and other education outcomes.

            [1] Information obtained through analysis of the Hawaii DXP online site http://hawaiidxp.org/#

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            Legal Statutes

            In 2010, the Hawaii legislature passed Act 41, which established provisions relating to state department data sharing. The statute that specifically addressed the state’s SLDS, SSCR 2395, required the HIDOE, the UH, and the DLIR to share data to support research that improves educational and workforce outcomes. It also requires the state’s SLDS to meet the longitudinal data requirements of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. [1]

            [1] Information obtained from Hawaii’s Act 41 (2010) http://lrbhawaii.org/legis10/passed10.pdf

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            DQC

            The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan national advocacy organization that evaluates each state’s longitudinal data system to determine how effectively each state uses their data system for education improvement purposes. The DQC’s annual survey, Data for Action (DFA)[1], measures each state’s progress towards implementing the 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems and the Ten State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use[2], a set of elements and policy actions proposed to produce quality data systems and increase student achievement within in each state.

            Hawaii has currently met each of the 10 essential elements:

            • Element 1 – Statewide student identifier
            • Element 2 – Student-level enrollment data
            • Element 3 – Student-level test data
            • Element 4 – Information on untested students
            • Element 5 – Statewide teacher identifier with a teacher-student match
            • Element 6 – Student-level course completion data
            • Element 7 – Student-level SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement exam data
            • Element 8 – Student-level graduation and dropout data
            • Element 9 – Ability to match student-level P-12 and higher education data
            • Element 10 – State data audit system

            Hawaii has currently met 6 of the 10 state actions:

            • State Action 2 – Create stable, sustainable support for longitudinal data systems
            • State Action 3 – Develop governance structures for longitudinal data systems
            • State Action 4 – Build state data repositories
            • State Action 6 – Create progress reports with student-level data for educators, students, and parents
            • State Action 7 – Create reports with longitudinal statistics to guide system-level change
            • State Action 8 – Develop a purposeful research agenda

            Hawaii has failed to meet the following state actions:

            • State Action 1 – Link state K-12 data systems with early learning, postsecondary, workforce, and other critical state agency data systems
            • State Action 5 – Provide timely, role-based access to data
            • State Action 9 – Implement policies and promote practices to build educators’ capacity to use data
            • State Action 10 – Promote strategies to raise awareness of available data

            [1] DQC’s annual survey, Data for Action (DFA), is a powerful tool to inform efforts in education to better use data in decision making. It is a series of analyses that highlight state progress and key priorities to promote the effective use of longitudinal data to improve student achievement

            [2] DQC’s 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems and 10 State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use provide a roadmap for state policymakers to create a culture of effective data use in which quality data are not only collected but also used to increase student achievement

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            Contact

            Jean Osumi
            Hawaii DXP Project Director
            Phone: (808) 956-7101
            Email: josumi@hawaii.edu

            Todd Ikenaga
            Hawaii DXP Project Director
            Phone: (808) 956-6595
            Email: tikenaga@hawaii.edu

            Wimmie Wong Lui
            Data Governance Coordinator
            Phone: (808) 956-6977
            Email: wimmiew@hawaii.edu

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            Schematic

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            State Response

            SLDS stakeholders listed under Contacts (above) have been provided a copy of this State Profile and given an opportunity to provide comments in response. No comments have been received for this state to date.