Oregon policymakers will now receive a more complete picture of how state-funded programs, interventions and services impact children and families across the state. The Oregon Child Integrated Dataset, or OCID, securely combines and analyzes data from five state agencies – the Oregon Department of Education, the Oregon Early Learning Division, the Oregon Department of Human Services, the Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Youth Authority — to effectively identify opportunities to improve programs and better support children statewide.
The initial dashboard, unveiled by Gov. Kate Brown, is publicly available online.
“Thanks to the years of hard work that have made OCID a reality, we can now have a clear view of the size and scope of the challenge we face to ensure that every Oregon child has the opportunity to grow, thrive and achieve their full potential,” says Brown. “The best policies and investments rely on science and data to inform decision making. OCID will expand the transparency of state programs, build trust in state systems, and hold us all accountable. Oregon’s children are counting on us.”
The development of OCID began more than a decade ago at the Center for Evidence-based Policy at Oregon Health & Science University, with the goal to provide objective, nonpartisan insight into the development of children born in Oregon. The dashboard, which links de-identified program data from education health, and income support services with birth records from 2001 onward, reports metrics and trends associated with standard school assessments, student homelessness and child welfare system involvement.
Approximately 75% of Oregon’s current public student population is included in the data base, and as additional program utilization and birth data becomes available, it will continue to expand, providing a powerful cross-program, longitudinal view of child well-being across the state.
“Traditionally, information and data about state programming is siloed and structured in ways that prevent cross-departmental integration and planning,” says Pam Curtis, director of the Center for Evidence-based Policy at OHSU. “OCID represents a novel approach that serves as a one-stop-shop for such data, and removes the barriers of collaboration between Oregon’s state agencies and policymakers. The ability to develop and transparently compare developmental outcomes among a population of children utilizing state-funded programs is an important step toward better targeting specific needs for a broader range of children in Oregon.”
The Center for Evidence-based Policy will continue to provide leadership, management, analytics and quality assurance for OCID. The center partners with the OHSU Center for Health Systems Effectiveness for analytics, statistical modeling and dataset management.
“Services and programs funded by the local government have a unique opportunity, and important responsibility, to positively impact future generations of our state,” says Ben Hoffman, M.D., professor of pediatrics in the OHSU School of Medicine and vice chair for community health and advocacy at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. “If not addressed early on, the social, environmental and economic disadvantages that many children face could lead to patterns of lifelong mental and physical health challenges. The ability to construct state-funded programming, using an evidence-based approach, is key to ensuring that more children and families will be able to access quality interventions that help them to overcome such disadvantages and thrive well into adulthood.”