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Better Data and Decisions
Leaders hoping to change the way they and others do business can find themselves simultaneously lamenting about information overload and the lack of good data. This is not because there is an overabundance of “bad” data. It is because there are very few examples of ongoing, cross-system efforts to identify data needs, fill data gaps and use data to influence real-time decision making.
Please review the Better Data Toolkit, then look further into the three standards:
- Collect complete data about youth outcomes, community supports and leadership actions to inform collective efforts and demonstrate the link to improved outcomes.
- Align and connect data for decision making horizontally (across systems) and vertically (from individual and neighborhood through community and state).
- Use the best information about what works to make strategies more effective.
August 31, 2011
America loves statistics and seems to have one about everything: from the number of people per square mile (87) to how much the average dog owner spends on the vet each year ($248) to the odds of catching a foul in the home ballpark of the Philadelphia Phillies (one in 1,233). So where are the data you need about kids in your community?
- to inform collective efforts and demonstrate the link to improved outcomes
August 31, 2011
If your community is like most, then you know a lot about young people as students: their attendance rates, grades, test scores and the rankings of their schools. But what do you know about the majority of their lives – the time when they are not in school? Probably not as much.
- horizontally (across systems) and vertically (from individual and neighborhood through community and state)
August 31, 2011
It’s time to share. After all, a new pile of statistics will just give everyone information overload. To use this tremendous resource to its full advantage, you need a way to connect data sources and exchange information among stakeholders.
- to make strategies more effective
August 31, 2011
You’ll have no trouble finding strategies that call themselves “evidence-based” or “proven” to be effective. That’s what leaders want – but how do you know what approaches really work and are a good fit for your community or state?