Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
03/05/2018 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB221 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 221 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 221-WORKFORCE & ED RELATED STATISTICS PROGRAM
8:04:04 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that the only order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 221, "An Act relating to the duties of the
Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education; relating to a
statewide workforce and education-related statistics program;
relating to information obtained by the Department of Labor and
Workforce Development; and providing for an effective date."
8:04:27 AM
GEORGE ASCOTT, Staff, Representative Harriet Drummond, Alaska
State Legislature, presented HB 221 on behalf of Representative
Drummond, prime sponsor. He read the first paragraph of the
sponsor statement [included in the committee packet], which read
as follows [original punctuation provided]:
House Bill 221 will help Alaska prepare to best
allocate and utilize increasingly scarce resources
available for education and workforce training by
clarifying the authority of the Alaska Commission on
Postsecondary Education (ACPE) to receive and analyze
existing data from state entities through a statewide
workforce and education related statistics program.
This system, currently known as the Outcomes Database,
will be known as the Statewide Longitudinal Data
System (SLDS).
MR. ASCOTT next offered a sectional analysis [included in the
committee packet]. Regarding Section 1, he said currently ACPE
is allowed to adopt regulations to administer financial aid
programs for institutional authorization functions and
interstate compacts, including the collection and
confidentiality of data. Under HB 221, new language in Section
1 would create additional authority for ACPE to adopt
regulations relating to the collection and analysis of K-12
data, as approved by the Department of Education & Early
Development (EED), under its current authority to collect that
information. Further, Section 1 would add regulations for a new
purpose, which is the administration of a statewide workforce
and education-related statistics program.
MR. ASCOTT addressed Section 2. He said currently law allows
ACPE to collect data and share it with the governor, the
legislature, and other state and federal agencies, but ACPE does
not have clear authority to maintain and analyze the data.
Under HB 221, Section 2 would allow ACPE to maintain a database
for the purpose of administering a statewide workforce and
education-related statistics program and enter into cooperative
agreements regarding education and employment with other
agencies. The commission would also be charged with removing
personally identifiable information (PII) before putting such
information in the database. Section 2 would also specify that
PII may not be provided to the federal government.
MR. ASCOTT addressed Section 3. He said currently the
Department of Labor & Workforce Development (DLWD) is not
allowed to share data regarding unemployment insurance with
other agencies. Under HB 221, Section 3 would change the law to
permit DLWD to share such data for the purpose of the statewide
workforce and education-related statistics program, as permitted
in federal regulation and contingent upon a written agreement
with ACPE. Section 4 would allow DLWD to disclose data to ACPE
[regardless of when it was obtained]. Section 5, he said, would
provide for an immediate effective date.
8:09:21 AM
STEPHANIE BUTLER, Executive Director, Alaska Commission on
Postsecondary Education (ACPE), Department of Education and
Early Development (EED), offered background information
regarding ACPE. She said the mission of ACPE is "to provide
Alaska's citizens with tools and resources to gain access to and
to experience success in higher education." To meet that
mission, ACPE manages the Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS)
and the Alaska Education Grant (AEG) programs, offering low-cost
student loans and providing a number of planning programs. She
continued as follows:
But are these the most effective ways to increase
access and success? In this time of severely
constrained resources, are we using those increasingly
limited resources in ways that produce the best return
for our students and the Alaska public, to whom we are
responsible? What is the return on investment in
programs like the APS and AEG? Or how 'bout that old
one: loan forgiveness? The things that we can easily
measure, like the number of program participants, or
even the number of program completers, cannot answer
that return on public investment question.
To answer that [return on investment] (ROI) question,
we need to know the long-term outcomes across
different public sectors. For example, Alaska spends
approximately $5 million annually on Alaska Grant
Program awards. Do recipients graduate at higher
rates than non-recipients? Does the program help
recipients enter the workforce sooner than similarly
situated non-recipients? Do they earn more once they
reach the workforce?
MS. BUTLER returned to the subject of forgivable loans. She
said if there had been a cross-sector database back [when these
loans were given], then it would be possible to figure out
whether the students who took the forgivable loans completed
their degrees and returned to Alaska at rates higher than other
students and whether those students worked in Alaska. She said
the question is whether money is being spent in smart ways that
make the most difference for students and for the Alaska
economy. She related that the university and EED indicate the
desire to answer similar questions about their programs.
8:11:52 AM
MS. BUTLER continued:
The challenge to answering questions like this is not
that we don't have the data. We do have it. The
challenge is that the data is currently housed in
separate transactional databases. Each time we have a
question like this, about long-term outcomes, we have
to put together a data sharing [memorandum of
understanding] (MOU), extract the relevant data from
our various systems, match it, link it, and then get
answers to our questions. And in accordance with
federal law, once we have those answers to our
questions, we have to destroy the linked data to
protect individual privacy, which means if we have a
follow-up question, we have to start the whole process
again.
MS. BUTLER said HB 221 would streamline the process by allowing
DLWD to share unit level employment and wage records with the
outcomes database, which is currently housed at ACPE. She said
the database houses linked information from ACPE, the University
of Alaska (UA), EED, and DLWD; however, currently it "is only
training in [general educational development] (GED) data" from
DLWD. Under HB 221, the database would also house employment
and wage record data "to know workforce outcomes." She said
once the date is linked, PII would be stripped off and never
stored with the linked data. She said the outcomes database
offers a faster, more cost-efficient to do longitudinal outcomes
assessments by minimizing the proliferation of PII. Further,
the database allows the retention of data that can then be used
to respond to follow-up questions or to "efficiently perform
future analyses."
MS. BUTLER said Alaska currently spends more than $2 billion
annually on K-12, postsecondary, and workforce training, but it
does not currently have a database that can fully provide
efficient, cost-effective, and secure feedback to the
legislature and administration regarding the value received from
those public investments. She said HB 221 would enhance the
state's ability to provide the feedback in several ways. It
would allow DLWD to provide unit-level employment and wage data
to the outcomes database for longitudinal analysis, which is
something 28 states already do; it would prohibit the sharing of
any unit-level data from the outcomes database with the federal
government; it codifies in law that the database must be
deidentified and clarifies what that means; and it clarifies
ACPE's authority to maintain longitudinal data.
8:14:22 AM
MS. BUTLER stated that the proposed legislation would not
"commit any funding for these purposes" but "simply allows for
the inclusion of this important additional data in the outcomes
longitudinal database," which was created a few years ago via
federal grant. She continued as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Specific to funding, it's our intent to seek resources
potentially through another federal grant to provide
outcomes reports once this additional data is
available in the outcomes database. In this time of
such severely constrained resources, we believe
there's a significant opportunity to attract grant
dollars to the project, recognizing that tough budget
times makes it even more important than ever that
policy makers be able to access the cross-sector data
needed to look at what happens to students in our
education and in our workforce pipeline and to what
extent they either enter or advance in the Alaska
workforce and contribute to the Alaska economy over
the long term.
MS. BUTLER said she doesn't want to give the committee the wrong
impression that ACPE would be able to immediately produce lots
of reports and outcomes analyses upon passage of HB 221; funding
would be required to use the data and do the analyses.
Nevertheless, she emphasized that HB 221 would "get us a step
closer" - an important step at no additional cost toward
providing the aforementioned outcomes and analyses. One example
of an outcome would be the annual APS outcomes report, which was
required under law when APS was created. It is a time-consuming
and costly report, but is part of the budget each year. She
said the long-term goal is to be able to have the ability to
quickly, easily, and inexpensively produce reports like the APS
outcomes report to look at other programs, including K-12,
collegiate, and career education and training - not just the
cost of the program, but also the return of the cost investment.
Ms. Butler noted that included in the information provided by
Mr. Ascott is a list of links to reports from other states that
give examples of the types of outcomes reports that can be
created using cross-sector information.
8:16:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON pointed out that there is a zero fiscal
note attached to HB 221. She asked if there would be a cost to
redacting individuals.
MS. BUTLER answered that there is a cost to doing that. She
said under the federal grant received a few years ago, the
database was created, which included the process for redacting
the information and the process for accepting the unit-level
DLWD information; however, state law prohibited DLWD from
sharing that data with other state agencies.
8:17:24 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON, in terms of further federal grants,
asked Ms. Butler if she is considering the savings in reports
[predicted as a result of HB 221].
MS. BUTLER answered, "What we're hoping to get is a federal
grant from the Institute of Educational Sciences that does not
require matching funds. But in the event that we were to secure
a grant that did require matching funds, some of the existing
reporting that we do in the old-fashioned way, such as the APS
report - those costs could be used for match."
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked what Ms. Butler would be looking
for from the federal grant.
MS. BUTLER replied that the Institute of Educational Sciences,
which provided the first grant, encouraged ACPE to apply for a
second grant to use the data created in the databases under the
first grant. She said, "Our goal would be to produce a number
of key, ... valuable reports for legislators and for the
administration and then to seek further funding beyond that,
based on ... the value of those reports."
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON asked for confirmation that what ACPE is
seeking in the grant is how best to use the data.
MS. BUTLER clarified, "The ability to demonstrate how valuable
the data is when it's applied in analyzing outcomes."
8:19:22 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND asked how the unemployment insurance data would
be utilized under HB 221, considering that such insurance data
is confidential.
MS. BUTLER offered an example wherein ACPE would be able to see
who participated in the education grant and then determine
whether those in the workforce that completed the program were
earning wages at a rate different from those who did not
complete the program. She said this would always be at the
aggregate level; therefore, ACPE would not be tracking
individuals, but would be tracking the outcomes of the programs.
CHAIR DRUMMOND asked for confirmation that currently ACPE is not
allowed to get that wage information from DLWD.
MS. BUTLER confirmed that is correct.
8:20:41 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH indicated that a handout in the committee
packet entitled, "Snapshot: Statewide Longitudinal Data
Systems," which shows that 50 states have the ability to connect
between systems, while 47 states and Washington, D.C., receive
federal statewide longitudinal data systems grants. He
remarked, "I like our odds of ... getting a grant." He asked
what a "P20W" system is.
MS. BUTLER answered that "P20" means preschool through grade 20
or college completion. In response to Chair Drummond, she said
the "W" stands for workforce.
8:21:55 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND directed attention to a [questions & answers
(Q&A)] document in the committee packet entitled, "Alaska
Education and Workforce Outcomes Data System (Outcomes Database)
February 2018." She asked what Administrative Order 261 meant.
MS. BUTLER answered that Administrative Order 261 (AO 261) was
issued by former Governor Sean Parnell directing the ACPE, EED,
DLWD, and UA to share data to the extent allowed under law for
the purpose of performing outcomes analyses. She said AO 261
also created a governance body consisting of the president of
the university, commissioners of EED and DLWD, and the executive
director of ACPE, to ensure that the data in the database was
used appropriately and cost efficiently.
CHAIR DRUMMOND concluded, "And so, the data that currently
exists in the database, that ACPE is keeping warm, was collected
and first put in the database under Administrative Order 261."
MS. BUTLER answered that is correct.
CHAIR DRUMMOND stated her assumption that "according to ... the
snapshot, ... this system was created by executive order, and
... now we're seeking to modify it legislatively."
MS. BUTLER answered that is correct.
8:23:53 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH referred to an ensuing sentence in the
aforementioned Q&A handout, which read as follows [original
punctuation provided]:
However, a 2016 amendment to the budget bill prevented
use of federal receipts for ANSWERS in FY17, which
resulted in a lack of funding to develop the proposed
ANSWERS program and use the database created under the
original grant.
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked what the reason was for "turning
down federal money."
MS. BUTLER explained that at that time, ACPE was going to seek a
federal grant in order to use the data, and concerns were
expressed by the legislator who introduced the amendment that
the protection of individual student data was in question.
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked Ms. Butler to speak to that concern.
MS. BUTLER responded, "We believe that the data in the outcomes
database is extraordinarily secure." She explained that the PII
is stripped before the linked data is loaded; it is also
encrypted once it is loaded and stored in the state's secure
data center, where most of the transactional data on which it is
based is already stored.
8:25:22 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND concluded that the PII, even though stored in the
same vicinity as the transactional data, cannot be "relinked,"
because the individual identifiers have been stripped away.
MS. BUTLER answered that is correct. She added that care is
taken to ensure that "they are stored on separate servers." She
said, "The design of the process was specifically to inhibit the
ability to relink."
CHAIR DRUMMOND asked how the outcomes database would remain
relevant in the future if it is not currently collecting new
data. She asked if someday it would collect new data to add to
that which had already been gathered.
MS. BUTLER answered that ACPE is able to "do lookback
information" using the existing data. She said school districts
have expressed interest in looking at graduates from a specific
district four to six years later to see where those graduates
are in terms of higher education and career preparation. To the
second part of Chair Drummond's question, she said the goal is
for ACPE to provide grant resources to the partners that provide
data to the outcomes database, so they are able to update their
data on a regular basis.
CHAIR DRUMMOND surmised, "You still have district-level data.
So, you can say ... the Fairbanks North Star Borough School
District data is identifiable, but not to the individual or
school level."
MS. BUTLER responded that is correct. She added that a good
example of reporting at the district level would be the APS
outcomes report. She stated, "If you looked at that and looked
at the reports by district, you probably noticed, and may have
experienced some frustration, that [for] some of the smaller
districts, all of the information is asterisked out. So, if
we're reporting at a level where the number of individuals is so
small ... that an individual in that district may be able to
figure out who it is, [then] that information is not
reportable."
CHAIR DRUMMOND offered the same problem existed in relation to
No Child Left Behind data. She thanked the presenters and noted
that she would likely have more questions during future public
testimony.
8:28:39 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND announced the committee would hear invited
testimony.
8:29:04 AM
DOUG WALRATH, Director, Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical
Center (NACTEC), relayed that NACTEC is a regional training
center, with the primary student population served from the 15
villages of the Bering Strait School District surrounding Nome,
as well as Nome public schools. He said NACTEC delivers over 25
unique vocational training programs annually in a variable term
format for communities that would otherwise be without such
short-duration, intensive format programs. Mr. Walrath said his
testimony would cover the administration of a statewide
workforce and education-related statistics program. He
continued as follows [original punctuation provided]:
As a regional training center, it's not uncommon to
report on placement into employment, with outcome
measures 7 to 12 months following training. For
programs serving primarily high school students, such
measures neglect to account for the impact of training
and keeping students engaged and in school. 75
percent to 80 percent of our high school training
population annually is enrolled in the ninth, tenth,
and eleventh grades. Employment measures seven to
twelve months after training can unintentionally
disregard three-quarters of a training population and
present a skewed view of the success of training.
Across rural Alaska, dropout rates tend to track
disproportionately higher, just as graduation rates
tend to track disproportionately lower. A measure of
persistence would shed light on the value of programs
that are keeping students engaged and on a path to
graduation. HB 221 presents a tool for measurement
purposes through the K-12 years, tracking to both
secondary and thereafter employment. Now, this would
be of value to determine how a coherent sequence of
vocational courses can begin, as we do here, at a
junior high core exploration level, leading to
certificated career immersion courses by the twelfth
grade leading either directly into employment or as a
linkage to postsecondary continuation. Here at NACTEC
we would find value in longitudinal measures that HB
221 would present the opportunity to capture. For the
purpose of student protection, a tool that protects
personally identifiable information while using
aggregate comparisons would certainly be of value. HB
221 proposes to do this and could provide outcome
measures of enhanced value over some of the currently
applied outcome measures.
MR. WALRATH related that NACTEC has served students for 15 years
and would find it valuable to know the impact of training on the
students it trains in the region. He further suggested it would
be valuable for the state to know the impact of training centers
in other regions.
8:32:34 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND recalled that Mr. Walrath had, a year ago, talked
about the importance of longitudinal data systems to track what
students are doing. She asked how NACTEC would be impacted by
the size of student populations, for example when data for
groups of five students appears as asterisks. She asked, "Would
your students be able to be grouped ... across the villages in
groups of more than five, so that you could actually track the
data for that particular program?"
MR. WALRATH answered, "I believe it could be used in many
different ways." He said he often gets asked questions about a
select training program. He related that the Nurse Assistant
Program population is probably the smallest of any, with the
entire class of twelfth graders and adults totaling six, and the
student population of just three. He said a one-year snapshot
is not as accurate as looking at the trend over several years.
He said the data he tracks "could pull the amount of trainees
per village." He added, "But I guess it would all depend on
what that measure is, if it's looking at a select training
program or a track or just an aggregate of students per
community. But ... for the most part, I would think that most
measures would be above that number of five."
CHAIR DRUMMOND surmised that tracking data must take up a
significant portion of Mr. Walrath's time.
MR. WALRATH responded that it is part of NACTEC's process to use
a FileMaker Pro database to track students. The information
begins with the entrance of junior high students into the
program, and to that is added training programs completed and
certificates earned. For example, the database can track when a
student gets his/her state identification, followed by a permit,
followed by a license.
CHAIR DRUMMOND thanked Mr. Walrath for his testimony.
8:37:02 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that HB 221 was held over.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 221 Sectional.pdf |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |
| HB 221 ACPE Letter of Support 03.02.2018.pdf |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |
| HB 221 Short Q&A.pdf |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |
| HB 221 SLDS_infographic.pdf |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |
| HB 221 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |
| HB 221 Ver A.PDF |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |
| HB 221 Wage Data Bullet Points.pdf |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |
| HB 221-DOLWD-UI-02-02-18.pdf |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |
| HB 221-EED-ACPE-2-2-18.pdf |
HEDC 3/5/2018 8:00:00 AM |
HB 221 |