Posts Tagged by data sharing
Pre-K Data Resource a Step Forward (but….)
| November 13, 2012 | Posted by M. P. under Education, Policy, Research |
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Got the comparative analysis blues? Need more or better data? Well, difficult-to-find data on pre-K programs just got easier to access thanks to a combined effort from the Early Education Initiative and the Federal Education Budget Project (FEBP) of the New America Foundation. An expansion of the FEBP database added 2007 through 2011 enrollment and funding information on public early education programs at both the state and local levels – including Head Start and federally mandated special education services to young children.
Alex Holt gives an overview of this valuable resource at the Foundation’s website, and discusses the serious deficit in reliable pre-K data reporting in the brief (with Lisa Guernsey) Counting Kids and Tracking Funds: Falling Short at the Local Level.
The Plotting of Happiness
| September 21, 2012 | Posted by M. P. under Behavorial Health, Elderly, Health, Research |
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An international study out of Australia found that happiness peaks (on average) during a person’s 60’s, then begins to decline, before dropping off considerably. Earlier this year, Dr Tony Beatton of Queensland University of Technology and Professor Paul Frijters of The University of Queensland reported findings from their analysis of data from approximately 60,000 people from Australia, Britain and Germany. Highlights include:
- Persons entering middle/retirement age (55 to 75 years) reported the highest levels of happiness
- The data from Germany showed a decrease in happiness as persons entered adulthood, then a peak at age 65 – a pattern different from the other data
- Happiness dropped significantly after age 75 across cases
This research adds to the discussion of the ‘U bend of happiness” (see a great write-up on it in The Economist), the concept that happiness ultimately culminates in late middle age; but Beatton and Frijters also address the drop in happiness after age 75, suggesting that it is related to the onset or worsening of health problems. This aligns with prior research on the relationship between the presentation of depression symptoms and medical issues/illnesses among the elderly population.
Study Citation: Frijters, Paul & Beatton, Tony, 2012. “The mystery of the U-shaped relationship between happiness and age,” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 525-542
Department of Education Reports Over One Million Students are Homeless
| July 7, 2012 | Posted by M. P. under Children and Family, Education, Federal Government |
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Data released by the U.S. Department of Education quantifies the extent of homelessness among American youth, as over one million homeless children are enrolled in preschool through the 12th grade in public schools across the country. The 2010-11 count (1,065,794) is up 13 percent from 2009. For the purposes of the research, youth are classified as “enrolled” if they attend class and participate in activities at a public school.
According to the report, Education for Homeless Children and Youths Program Data Collection Summary, a presentation of analyses from the school year 2010-11 (including comparisons to data from prior years) the number of homeless children enrolled in public schools increased 57 percent since the beginning of the recession (the 2006-2007 school year). States with the largest increases in the numbers of homeless students include Kentucky and Utah (47 percent), Michigan and West Virginia (38 percent), and Mississippi (35 percent).
A positive takeaway from the report is that the academic performance of homeless students in grades 3-12 appears to have improved somewhat. In 2008-09, 49 percent of these students met or exceeded standard state proficiency in reading and 48 percent in math; in 2009-10, 52 percent of grade homeless students in grades 3-12 met or exceeded standard state proficiency in reading, and 50 percent did the same in math.
The report is available for download at the National Center for Homeless Education.
Reclaiming Measurement in the Human Services
| June 7, 2011 | Posted by M. P. under Evaluation, Management, Program Model |
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Inputs, outcomes, program evaluation, best-practices, the gold-standard – our familiarity with these terms speaks to how ingrained measurement has become in the daily operations of nonprofits, especially for human and social service organizations. Program and other service data is used to drive decision-making and report performance to external stakeholders – especially funders – but the collecting, recording, analyzing and making use of it can easily become an infernal nightmare as described in the post Performance Measurement in Human Services: From Challenge to Opportunity by Matthew Forti at the Bridgespan Group web page.
What is a nonprofit director to do when multiple, often varied (or worse, duplicated), accountability measures lead to inefficient use of time (extensive data collection), start eating up chunks of the budget (temporary hires to catch up on a backlog of data entry and/or accuracy issues) and otherwise draw the focus away from the organization’s programming, service delivery and mission? Well, for starters, don’t let measurement own you – you must reclaim measurement. Revisit, and if necessary, revise its purpose, methods and role in your nonprofit. Mr. Forti offers several starting points for your journey toward streamlining and improving performance measurement (including a link to a white paper on measurement), all appropriate for nonprofits of any size.
Metrics, databases and reporting requirements won’t disappear, and sometimes, with some funders, they may not even make sense. That said, measurement will improve your services and your bottom line when used intelligently, proactively and consistently by leaders who recognize its value. Set the tone for your team. Make measurement work for you – not the other way around.
Privacy Concerns and Your Mobile Fundraising Campaign
| May 31, 2011 | Posted by M. P. under Management, Philanthropy, Technology |
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Is your nonprofit considering a mobile fundraising campaign? Advances in mobile communications technology offer innovative ways for nonprofits to share their stories and appeals with potential donors, but a recent survey shows that smartphone users continue to have privacy concerns around the use of mobile applications.
A poll conducted in early 2011 by Harris Interactive found privacy to be of the highest concern among smartphone owners (38 percent), followed by security (26 percent). In fact, nearly all (99 percent) of the survey respondents ranked privacy and knowledge of how personal information is shared as extremely important, very important or important. Mobile technology users are not passive about these concerns either, as the data indicate that over half (52 percent) of smartphone owners reported reading an application’s privacy policy.
What does this mean for the nonprofit looking to take their fundraising activities mobile?
- Do your research. Whether you are going with an SMS/text or a mobile application for your drive, understand the security features offered by the service provider as well as their privacy policy. Also, test the technology several times before the launch. How much information is required of your potential donors? Do you think the information required would be a deal-breaker? Would your kids/friends/neighbors/parents?
- Embrace transparency. Is the privacy and security of your donor information important to you? Then don’t ignore the topic – tell your donors! Direct potential donors to the application’s privacy policy rather than make them search for it. Share what you know about how their information will be used and by whom, including how your organization handles donor information.
- Have a Plan B. Make certain that your organization’s website is updated and ready to accept online donations if donors are not able to use the application for any reason – from a technological bug to their own comfort level.
Have concerns about donor privacy made your nonprofit hesitant to try mobile fundraising or have these issues had little impact on your nonprofit’s use of this method of giving?
A complete version of the report is available for download on the TRUSTe.com website.
New Report Highlights Trends in School Crime
| May 5, 2011 | Posted by M. P. under Children and Family, Drug and Alcohol, Education, Youth Development |
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Violent behavior and illegal activity in schools are of utmost concern to parents, educators and community leaders due to their impact on the learning environment as well as the safety and well-being of the youth, school personnel and local residents. The Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics recently announced the release of Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2010 by Simone Robers, Jijun Zhang and Jennifer Truman, an annual report on indicators of and trends in crime and safety in schools nationwide. The publication presents data on criminal activity inside and outside of schools gathered from myriad sources including: the National Crime Victimization Survey, the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the School Survey on Crime and Safety and the School and Staffing Survey. This report provides the most current detailed statistical information on the nature of crime in schools.
Some of the findings are highlighted below.
- In 2008,1.2 million students ages 12-18 were victims of non-fatal crimes at school (including theft and other violent crimes such as assault, robbery and rape), however, the overall at-school theft and violent crime victimization rate of students in that age range decreased between 2007 and 2008.
- Ten percent of male and 5 percent of female students in grades 9-12 reported experiencing threats or injuries with a weapon while on school grounds in 2009.
There appears to be statistical support for long term trends regarding drugs, weapons and increased security measures including:
- The proportion of students in grades 9-12 who were offered, sold or given drugs dropped from 32 percent in 1995 to 23 percent in 2009.
- Between 1993–2009, students who reported carrying a weapon at least once (anywhere, including school) within the past 30-day-period decreased from 22 to 17 percent, as did the percent of those who reported carrying a weapon at least one day on school grounds.
- An increase in the number of public schools that reported the use of multiple safety and security measures including controlled access to areas inside and outside of the school, mandatory ID badges for staff and/or students, video surveillance and uniforms between the 1999-2000 school year and the 2000-2008 year.
The complete report is available at the National Center for Education Statistics website.
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