ERDC Priorities in 2023
As we look ahead to 2023, we want to reflect on our accomplishments in 2022, as well as provide you with an overview of some of the projects that we're excited about this year.
In 2022, ERDC set out a list of five priority areas and an internal equity road map. The goal? To guide our work towards providing timely, accurate, meaningful, and relevant data products and research while keeping our eyes on our ultimate vision: equitable education access and outcomes for students across the state.
We are carrying these priorities over to 2023. Each priority (listed below) focuses on a different aspect of our work. Together, they create a cohesive strategy and series of actions that we can implement. For each activity, we consider our role in the education landscape and how our actions may help or hinder the progress of achieving equitable outcomes. We are incredibly grateful to our long-time and emerging partners that support these priorities and push us to imagine new possibilities in our work. We look forward to connecting and building on this momentum in the new year!
Maintaining a healthy team culture with consistent communication, collaboration, and opportunities for connection is key to our success as an organization. This year, ERDC welcomed three new team members and developed an onboarding plan for our virtual work environment. We also implemented several organizational routines that we plan to continue in 2023, including:
- Maintaining a team-wide internal work plan for transparency around all that we do and to ensure we are anticipating and managing our workload.
- Adapting to the new remote working norms by offering quarterly hybrid staff meetings.
- Intentionally focusing on equity related topics in full-team and research meetings.
Through our process improvement work, we consistently review how to improve internal processes at ERDC. In 2022, ERDC published several data dictionaries, launched our P20W Data System Study, and completed our Data Security Manual. In 2023, we will focus on:
- Continuing the P20W System Study through late Spring 2023.
- Developing standardized queries and data marts.
- Updating our dashboards and reviewing for improvements as necessary.
We are proud of our collaborative work and growing partnerships in 2022. Highlights include working with external partners to review and publish legislative reports, strengthening relationships and communication with key partners, and presentations to multiple committees to highlight ERDC’s contributions. In 2023, we plan to:
- Publish an updated version of the P20W Research Handbook.
- Gather website user feedback to start a redesign of the ERDC website.
- Launch the next Dual Credit workgroup to support the 2023 report (under HB 1867).
- Support the data needs of organizations working to improve the education outcomes of students in foster care and experiencing homelessness – including integrating these groups of students into the HS Outcomes Dashboard.
- Spread external knowledge of ERDC resources through local and national conferences.
Coordinated research is central to ERDC's vision. In 2022, we developed the ERDC Critical Questions, a framework to guide our research agenda. We also completed several descriptive research reports as part of our SLDS grant. To build on this in 2023, we will:
- Publish the following reports: 1) Educator Endorsements & Employment; 2) Financial Aid Awards & Graduation Rates for Postsecondary Students: A Comparison Across Ethnic and Racial Groups; and 3) Assessing Inequities in Social and Health Services Utilization Among PK-12 Students in Washington State; and 4) High School CTE Course Taking in Washington State: An Overview Focused on Access and Equity.
- Deliver on legislatively required research updates focused on Dual Credit, outcomes for students in foster care or experiencing homelessness, and outcomes for participants of Open Doors.
- Develop a three-year research agenda through a collaborative process with partners.
- Begin the final phase of reports for the 2019 SLDS grant.
Data governance brings transparency and greater accountability to our work. In 2022, we published a comprehensive Data Governance Manual, executed several data sharing agreements with state partners, and had focused conversations about how different systems collect data on race and economic status. We will continue to prioritize communication and transparency in 2023 as we:
- Host quarterly P20W Data Contributor meetings and create regular reports of how ERDC uses and shares data.
- Expand ERDC research capacity by setting up a framework for external researchers to conduct studies on behalf of ERDC.
- Transition external data requesters into the Education Data Enclave for analysis and product reviews.
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