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Informing FAIR Data Principles of Publicly Accessible Open School Equity Data using Data Taxonomies

Alex J. Bowers, Maeghan Sill, Jingjing Jiang, Jonathan Williams, and Yue Summer Wu

Bowers@tc.edu

Teachers College, Columbia University

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Bowers et al. (2022) Mapping 16 Equity Indicators to the New York City Schools Public Datasets: Access, Opportunity, and Outcomes. Teachers College, Columbia University. New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.7916/a143-aq05

Bowers et al. (2024) Tracking the Indicators of Opportunity. Principal Magazine, NAESP, Vol 103(3) Jan/Feb, p.38-39.

https://www.naesp.org/resource/tracking-the-indicators-of-opportunity/

Bowers, A. J., & Choi, Y. (2023). Building School Data Equity, Infrastructure, and Capacity Through FAIR Data Standards: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Educational Researcher, https://doi.org/0013189X231181103

Mapping 16 Equity Indicators to New York City Open Public Equity Indicator Data

2022 Report

2023 Educational Researcher paper

2024 Principal Magazine

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Recent research on the usefulness of publicly reported school data mapped to the recent National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) 16 equity indicators.

Bowers et al. (2022), Bowers & Choi (2023), NASEM (2019, 2020)

A growing literature that calls for analysis that includes outcomes (test scores) but also opportunity and resource data, such as school absences, school academic climate, and student exposure to segregation, among others.

Gutiérrez (2012), Hinnant-Crawford (2020), NASEM (2019, 2020), Roegman et al. (2022)

Major Challenges:

The open public data are often not Findable, Interoperable, Accessible, and Reusable (F.A.I.R.).

Bowers & Choi (2023), Nelson & Zanti (2020)

The NASEM 16 equity indicator framework is not aligned to FAIR data principles, including a lack of defined data vocabularies, and a defined research data management taxonomic framework.

Yet, NASEM is only one of many recent equity indicator data frameworks.

Central question: Using a literature synthesis method, what is the range of equity indicator frameworks across the research literature, and how well are they aligned to FAIR data principles and the literature on systematic data governance, for both public and restricted/local data taxonomy governance frameworks?
Goal: Aligning to defined data vocabularies FAIR data principles is an equity issue, as if indicator definitions and the data themselves are not findable, accessible, and interoperable, then the data can not be analyzed to surface success and challenges across the system.

Motivation

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(p. 3) National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2020. Building Educational Equity Indicator Systems: A Guidebook for States and School Districts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25833

Academic Readiness and Pre-K Self-Regulation and Attention Skills
Access to and Participation in High-Quality Pre-K Programs.
Access to Effective Teaching.
Access to Rigorous Coursework.
Curricular Breadth.
Exposure to Racial and Economic Segregation.
School Climate.
Non-Exclusionary Disciplinary Practices.
Access to Non-Academic Supports for Student Success.
Engagement in Schooling.
Performance in Coursework.
Performance on Tests.
Educational Attainment - On-Time Graduation.
Educational Attainment – Post-Secondary Readiness.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 16 Equity Indicators (2019, 2020)

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Gonzalez, N., Alberty, A., Brockman, S., Nguyen, T., Johnson, M., Bond, S., O’Connell, K., Corriveau, A., Shoji, M., Streeter, M., Engle, J., Goodly, C., Neely, A.N., White, M.A., Anderson, M., Matthews, C., Mason, L., & Mean, S.F. “Education-to-Workforce indicator framework: Using data to promote equity and economic security for all." Seattle: Mathematica, August 2022. https://educationtoworkforce.org/sites/default/files/2023-04/E-W-Indicator-Framework_Final.pdf

Mathematic Gates Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework (2022)

99 Indicators within 3 categories

Outcomes and Milestones
Education-to-Workforce (E-W) System Conditions
Adjacent System Conditions

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Mathematic Gates Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework (2022)

99 Indicators within 3 categories

Outcomes and Milestones
Education-to-Workforce (E-W) System Conditions
Adjacent System Conditions

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Conduct a literature review to investigate:

How many equity indicator frameworks are there in the literature?
What are the indicators the frameworks propose?
How do the frameworks propose to record each indicator and disaggregate by demographics?
Who is the audience for the framework? Whose voices are included in the design?

Top down
Bottom up
Hybrid

To what extent do the frameworks address issues of F.A.I.R. data principles and research data management of government data?

Literature search inclusion criteria:

Searched for a broad range of equity frameworks keywords
Set out a list or framework of indicators/metrics.
Focus on PK-12 schools in the USA.
Centered on organization of data
Center issues of equity

Purpose & Method:

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PRISMA Diagram for Literature Search

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	Creator	Number of Indicators	Framework Design Approach
Academic and School Engagement Indicators to Prioritize	Burch & Estrada-Miller, 2022	18	Top-down
Found in: Advancing Educational Equity for Underserved Youth	Cardichon & Darling-Hammond, 2017	5	Top-down
The Sustainable Child Development Index	Chang et al., 2017	139 (Total);� 28 (Education)	Top-down
E2: Equity and Excellence Framework	Coleman & Ellis, 2023	7	Hybrid
Types and Forms of School Segregation	Costache et al., 2022	1	Top-down
OTIS Index	District Management Group, 2022	4	Top-down
Systemic Equity Review Framework	Fabillar, 2018	10	Hybrid
Equity Audit Data Collection and Analysis	Frattura & Capper, 2007	103	Top-down
Education-to-Workforce Framework	Gonzalez et al., 2022	99	Top-down
Harnessing Data in Pursuit of Equity-Minded Redesign: Utilizing Equity Indicators to Interrogate Policy, Practice, and Social Constructs in preK-12 Education	Grainger, 2020	3	Hybrid
Twelve Indicators of Restorative Practices Implementation	Gregory et al., 2021	12	Bottom-up
Indicators of Equitable Civic Learning in U.S. Public Schools	Hamilton & Kaufman, 2022	14	Hybrid
Framework for Equitable Data Culture	Knips et al., 2023	4	Bottom-up
System Transformation for Equitable Preschools (STEP Forward with Data) Framework	Lin et al., 2024	20	Top-down
Examples of Potential OTL Indicators and Data Collection Approaches	Marion, 2020	14	Top-down
Conditions Shaping Educators’ Use of Social–Emotional Learning Indicators	Marsh & Kennedy, 2020	4	Hybrid
Indicators of Educational Equity	National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicines, 2019	16	Hybrid
A Framework for Evaluation	National Academies Press, 2011	unspecified	Hybrid
Equity in Education Dashboard	National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.	16� (by NASEM)	Hybrid
OECD Education Equity Dashboard	Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2022	35	Top-down
Found in: Building Robust District Work-Based Learning Data Collection Systems	Shields et al., 2024	6	Top-down
Found in: Equity Audits: A Practice Leadership Tool for Developing Equitable and Excellent Schools	Skrla et al., 2004	12	Hybrid
MAEC Equity Audit	Villani et al., 2021	90	Bottom-up
Capacity, access, participation, and experience (CAPE): A framework for assessing equity in CS education	Warner et al., 2022	5	Top-down
Found in: Data for Equity: Closing Racial and Economic Gaps Through a Federal-State Partnership	Wong, 2021	18	Hybrid

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Few Equity Frameworks Cite Each Other

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Of the 25 equity indicator frameworks, only 2 offered any form of data management recommendations: Framework for Evaluation (NASEM, 2011) & Education-to-Workforce Framework (Mathematica & Gates, 2022)
Inconsistent use of vocabulary and definitions is the norm across the frameworks. Domain, indicator, measure, metric, etc. Only 4 frameworks provided a dedicated glossary or definition section. 12 of 25 provided a definition of equity.
8 equity frameworks were peer reviewed
12 equity frameworks are top-down, 3 bottom-up, 10 hybrid.
Top down frameworks were the only to include indicators related to LGBTQ+ identity, migrant status, homelessness, military, and foster care.
All bottom-up frameworks and 7 of 10 hybrid frameworks included community voices in some form.
Top down framework intended audiences are policymakers and researchers rather than school leaders. Hybrid and bottom-up frameworks stated audiences more often include educators and practitioners, providing information on daily practice.

Findings:

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Hybrid equity indicator frameworks that include community, local education agencies, and researchers and policymakers appear to be the most comprehensive.

A need for a greater focus on FAIR data principles and defined and agreed on data governance and data vocabularies.

A need to convene researchers, policymakers, leaders, and school community stakeholders nationally to build a well-defined data glossary based on existing literature, frameworks, and data structures is a possible next step for education equity data. Without a means to seamlessly integrate and link existing and future school data across reporting bodies, the data remains isolated, obscuring the full extent of inequity in schools and potentially isolating challenges from their solutions. This paper seeks to illuminate the extent to which stakeholders in education have already begun developing frameworks for equity data and calls for alignment to a shared data taxonomy as the next step towards making data more findable, accessible, interoperable, and thus, reusable for equity purposes.

Contributions and Open Questions:

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CALL for Equity Centered Leadership

www.call-ecl.org

call-ecl@wcer.wisc.edu

Research Team Authors

Alex J. Bowers

Maeghan Sill

Jingjing Jiang

Jonathan Williams

Yue Summer Wu

Email: bowers@tc.edu

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	Creator	Number of Indicators	Indicator Groupings for Data
Academic and School Engagement Indicators to Prioritize	Burch & Estrada-Miller, 2022	18	2 Dimensions: Leading indicators or Lagging indicators; Academic indicators or community indicators
Found in: Advancing Educational Equity for Underserved Youth	Cardichon & Darling-Hammond, 2017	5	None
The Sustainable Child Development Index	Chang et al., 2017	139 (Total);� 28 (Education)	7: Health, Education, Safety, Economic� status, Relationship, Participation, Environmental aspects
E2: Equity and Excellence Framework	Coleman & Ellis, 2023	7	None
Types and Forms of School Segregation	Costache et al., 2022	1	None
OTIS Index Atlanta Public Schools	District Management Group, 2022	4	4: Opportunity, Tangibles, Intangibles, Supports
Systemic Equity Review Framework	Fabillar, 2018	10	4: Achievement status, Educational opportunities, Social-emotional supports, Climate and culture
Equity Audit Data Collection and Analysis	Frattura & Capper, 2007	103	10: Including: Gender and Social Class Data and Analysis, Status of Labeling at Your School, Discipline Data, General Achievement Data, Social Class, Race and Ethnicity, English Language Learners and Bilingual Data and Analysis
Education-to-Workforce Framework	Gonzalez et al., 2022	99	3: Outcomes and Milestones, Education-to-Workforce (E-W) System Conditions, Adjacent System Conditions
Harnessing Data in Pursuit of Equity-Minded Redesign	Grainger, 2020	3	1: Access to Opportunity
Twelve Indicators of Restorative Practices Implementation	Gregory et al., 2021	12	5: RP Infrastructure; RP Capacity-Building in Staff, Students, and Families; RP Tier 1: Universal Support/Prevention; RP Tier 2: Targeted Support; RP Tier 3: Intensive Support
Indicators of Equitable Civic Learning in U.S. Public Schools	Hamilton & Kaufman, 2022	14	4: Outcomes, Classroom constructs reflecting opportunities for civic learning, school constructs reflecting opportunities for civic learning, state and community context reflecting opportunities for civic learning
Framework for Equitable Data Culture	Knips et al., 2023	4	Prepare self and team, Gather data that matters, Engage in asset-based analysis, Take action for sustained equity
System Transformation for Equitable Preschools (STEP Forward with Data) Framework	Lin et al., 2024	20	6: Supply, Outreach, Enrollment, Learning Experiences, Transitions, Administration
Examples of Potential OTL Indicators and Data Collection Approaches	Marion, 2020	14	4: Grouped by level of data collection: State/District, Parent/Caregiver, Teacher/Schools, Students
Conditions Shaping Educators’ Use of Social–Emotional Learning Indicators	Marsh & Kennedy, 2020	4	4: Self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, growth mindset, and social awareness
*Indicators of Educational Equity	National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicines, 2019	16	2: Indicators of Disparities in Student Outcomes, Indicator of Disparities in Access to Educational Opportunities
A Framework for Evaluation	National Academies Press, 2011	unspecified	5 areas of district responsibility (personnel; classroom teaching and learning; operations, management, and facilities; vulnerable children and youth; family and community engagement) and 4 elements for reform (structures and roles, strategies, conditions, outcomes)
*Equity in Education Dashboard	National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.	16� (by NASEM)	2: Indicators of Disparities in Student Outcomes, Indicator of Disparities in Access to Educational Opportunities (by NASEM)
*OECD Education Equity Dashboard	Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2022	35	2: Equity in Education, Equity in and Through Education
Building Robust District Work-Based Learning Data Collection Systems	Shields et al., 2024	6	2: Elements of Student WBL Experiences, WBL Outcomes - What did the student gain?
Equity Audits: A Practice Leadership Tool for Developing Equitable and Excellent Schools	Skrla et al., 2004	12	3: Teacher Quality Equity, Programmatic Equity, Achievement Equity
MAEC Equity Audit	Villani et al., 2021	90	7 Equity Areas: School Policy, School Admin, School Climate/Environment, Staff, Assessment/Placement, Professional Learning, Standards & Curriculum Development
Capacity, access, participation, and experience (CAPE): A framework for assessing equity in CS education	Warner et al., 2022	5	4: CAPE framework: Capacity, Access, Participation, Experience
Found in: Data for Equity: Closing Racial and Economic Gaps Through a Federal-State Partnership	Wong, 2021	18	4: College Access, College retention and completion, college affordability, post-enrollment outcomes

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	Creator	Number of Indicators	Indicator Groupings for Data	Recommended Disaggregation RE GE EL ED DS	Framework Design Approach
Academic and School Engagement Indicators to Prioritize	Burch & Estrada-Miller, 2022	18	2 Dimensions: Leading indicators or Lagging indicators; Academic indicators or community indicators	7 including: foster youth, homeless RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
Found in: Advancing Educational Equity for Underserved Youth	Cardichon & Darling-Hammond, 2017	5	None	4 RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
The Sustainable Child Development Index	Chang et al., 2017	139 (Total);� 28 (Education)	7: Health, Education, Safety, Economic� status, Relationship, Participation, Environmental aspects	1 RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
E2: Equity and Excellence Framework	Coleman & Ellis, 2023	7	None	6 including: geographic location, other identity� groups RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
Types and Forms of School Segregation	Costache et al., 2022	1	None	5 including: academic success, student's place of residence RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
*OTIS Index	District Management Group, 2022	4	4: Opportunity, Tangibles, Intangibles, Supports	4 RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
Systemic Equity Review Framework	Fabillar, 2018	10	4: Achievement status, Educational opportunities, Social-emotional supports, Climate and culture	0 RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
Equity Audit Data Collection and Analysis	Frattura & Capper, 2007	103	10: Including: Gender and Social Class Data and Analysis, Status of Labeling at Your School, Discipline Data, General Achievement Data, Social Class, Race and Ethnicity, English Language Learners and Bilingual Data and Analysis	9 including: sexual orientation, gender identity RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
*Education-to- Workforce Framework	Gonzalez et al., 2022	99	3: Outcomes and Milestones, Education-to-Workforce (E-W) System Conditions, Adjacent System Conditions	25 including: welfare involvement, justice system involvement RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
Found in: Harnessing Data in Pursuit of Equity-Minded Redesign: Utilizing Equity Indicators to� Interrogate Policy, Practice, and Social Constructs in preK-12 Education	Grainger, 2020	3	1: Access to Opportunity	2 RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
Twelve Indicators of Restorative Practices Implementation	Gregory et al., 2021	12	5: RP Infrastructure; RP Capacity-Building in Staff, Students, and Families; RP Tier 1: Universal Support/Prevention; RP Tier 2: Targeted Support; RP Tier 3: Intensive Support	4 RE GE EL ED DS	Bottom-up
Found in: Indicators of Equitable Civic Learning in U.S. Public Schools	Hamilton & Kaufman, 2022	14	4: Outcomes, Classroom constructs reflecting opportunities for civic learning, school constructs reflecting opportunities for civic learning, state and community context reflecting opportunities for civic learning	3 RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
Framework for Equitable Data Culture	Knips et al., 2023	4	Prepare self and team, Gather data that matters, Engage in asset-based analysis, Take action for sustained equity	0 RE GE EL ED DS	Bottom-up
System Transformation for Equitable Preschools (STEP Forward with Data) Framework	Lin et al., 2024	20	6: Supply, Outreach, Enrollment, Learning Experiences, Transitions, Administration	3 RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
Examples of Potential OTL Indicators and Data Collection Approaches	Marion, 2020	14	4: Grouped by level of data collection: State/District, Parent/Caregiver, Teacher/Schools, Students	0 RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
Conditions� Shaping Educators’ Use of Social–Emotional� Learning Indicators	Marsh & Kennedy, 2020	4	4: Self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, growth mindset, and social awareness	0 RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
*Indicators of Educational Equity	National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicines, 2019	16	2: Indicators of Disparities in Student Outcomes, Indicator of Disparities in Access to Educational Opportunities	5 RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
A Framework for Evaluation	National Academies Press, 2011	unspecified	5 areas of district responsibility (personnel; classroom teaching and learning; operations, management, and facilities; vulnerable children and youth; family and community engagement) and 4 elements for reform (structures and roles, strategies, conditions, outcomes)	9 including: geography, achievement level RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
*Equity in Education Dashboard	National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.	16� (by NASEM)	2: Indicators of Disparities in Student Outcomes, Indicator of Disparities in Access to Educational Opportunities (by NASEM)	8 including: parental education, urbanicity RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
*OECD Education Equity Dashboard	Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2022	35	2: Equity in Education, Equity in and Through Education	5 including: age, educational attainment RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
Found in: Building Robust District Work-Based Learning Data Collection Systems	Shields et al., 2024	6	2: Elements of Student WBL Experiences, WBL Outcomes - What did the student gain?	11 including: individuals preparing for non-traditional fields, single parents, migrant, military RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
Found in: Equity Audits: A Practice Leadership Tool for Developing Equitable and Excellent Schools	Skrla et al., 2004	12	3: Teacher Quality Equity, Programmatic Equity, Achievement Equity	5 RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid
MAEC Equity Audit	Villani et al., 2021	90	7 Equity Areas: School Policy, School Admin, School Climate/Environment, Staff, Assessment/Placement, Professional Learning, Standards & Curriculum Development	6 including: location RE GE EL ED DS	Bottom-up
Capacity, access, participation, and experience (CAPE): A framework for assessing equity in CS education	Warner et al., 2022	5	4: CAPE framework: Capacity, Access, Participation, Experience	2 RE GE EL ED DS	Top-down
Found in: Data for Equity: Closing Racial and Economic Gaps Through a Federal-State Partnership	Wong, 2021	18	4: College Access, College retention and completion, college affordability, post-enrollment outcomes	7 including: Pell Grant Recipient RE GE EL ED DS	Hybrid

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Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership Learning/Equity-Centered Leadership. Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership Learning/Equity-Centered Leadership. https://call-ecl.wceruw.org/

Fill in the rest

References