Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Governor has three statewide priorities: Jobs that Pay, Schools that Teach, and Government that Works. For each of the goals, the Governor’s Office developed 15 subgoals with key performance measures sourced from the state’s open data platform to track the progress in all three strategic areas. Governor’s Goals metrics track outcomes such as employment and labor force participation rates; high school graduation rates; rates of health insurance coverage; drug overdose deaths; traffic crash fatalities; and customer experience indicators such as call wait times, abandoned calls, and customer satisfaction. The formation of these goals was guided by advisory commissions established by executive order, including: Advisory Commissions on African American, Asian Pacific American, Latino, Women, and LGBTQ affairs.

Issue Areas: Economic Mobility, Education, Equity, Health, Workforce

In 2018, the Pennsylvania Governor signed an executive order that created the Office of Performance Through Excellence, to serve as the commonwealth’s central performance management and continuous improvement office. The office is led by an executive director that serves as the state’s chief performance officer.

The commonwealth has a standard performance management framework known as Results PA that the Office of Performance Through Excellence (OPE) and several agencies have adopted at various levels. One component of Results PA is a series of monthly or quarterly team meetings dedicated to assessing progress toward goals; discussing the status of key outcome and process measures; identifying problem-solving or process improvement opportunities; and celebrating team successes. OPE staff support agencies in the development of their Results PA routines and periodically attend the agencies’ performance management meetings. Commonwealth employees discussed their experience with Results PA on a virtual conference panel in January 2021.

The Pennsylvania Governor has publicly communicated the commonwealth’s commitment to the use of data and evidence as tools to improve results, notably by signing Executive Order 2016-07 and by making numerous statements regarding Pennsylvania’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. EO 2016-07 establishes the commonwealth’s open data program, creates the role of Chief Data Officer, and outlines the commonwealth’s data management and governance framework, among other provisions.

Throughout the pandemic, the administration has prioritized a data- and evidence-driven approach to decision-making about issues including mitigation measures, reopening, testing, and vaccine distribution. This press release outlines the commonwealth’s “data-driven and quantifiable criteria to drive a targeted, evidence-based, regional approach to reopening.” The commonwealth’s publicly available dashboards provide data on vaccinations and cases, tests, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Issue Areas: COVID-19

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, in partnership with BetaGov, used rapid-cycle evaluations on employee-generated ideas. In one trial, an evaluation of the Swift, Certain, and Fair intervention found it to be feasible and effective in reducing misbehaviors with incarcerated women. The Department of Revenue, using behavioral insights, redesigned its delinquent tax notices. A rigorous evaluation demonstrated that the redesigned notice improved taxpayer response rates and debt collection, two of the department’s priority outcomes.

Issue Areas: Criminal Justice

A 2017 executive order enhanced Pennsylvania’s enterprise approach to using data as a strategic asset by creating an open data program, establishing a statewide Chief Data Officer and data advisory committee that includes data stewards, and encouraging the sharing and use of data. The CDO reports to the Deputy Secretary for Information Technology and State Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the Governor’s Office of Administration, and is charged with overseeing the use, management, and governance of data statewide. In 2021, the Chief Information Officer described the governance structures (Appendix E) related to shared services, including data management in a 2021 testimony to the State’s Senate and Communications committee on state information technology legislation.

Additionally, in July 2021, the Commonwealth hired a Deputy General Counsel for Privacy, a chief privacy officer, within the Office of General Counsel to review relevant legislation and inform decisions regarding improving data laws, policies, and regulations.

The Pennsylvania Governor’s executive order on open data, data management, and data governance, first issued in 2017 and amended in 2019, states that data shall be shared internally and externally, whenever possible unless restricted by federal, state, or other statutes or regulations, or policies, standards or best practices that prohibit the sharing of specific data, in order to foster innovation, cooperation, and transparency. To further support internal data sharing across the state, in 2017, the state created an enterprise data-sharing memorandum of understanding (eMOU), providing a more efficient process to obtain and provide data by, between, and among Commonwealth agencies. When it comes to sharing geospatial data in particular, the Pennsylvania State Geospatial Board has a publicly available data-sharing agreement to facilitate the sharing of data between government entities and non-state data owners, including academia, business, and nonprofits. The impact of data sharing is reflected in the State Geospatial Board’s annual reports on state and local data sharing, COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, and land use and transportation planning.

Issue Areas: COVID-19

Various Pennsylvania agencies have used data to improve results for residents in several ways, demonstrating a commitment to the state’s 2017 data executive order. Examples of this include the Department of Health’s use of a common data platform to gather and report data from statewide and national sources, as well as peer-reviewed literature and guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House, when making public health decisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from the platform are publicly reported and available daily. To manage the state’s opioid response, the Department of Health’s opioid data dashboard, which combines cross-agency data, is used to inform policy, budget, and management decisions by the state’s Opioid Command Center, an interagency group of officials coordinating the state’s response to the opioid epidemic and substance use disorder services.

A 2019 Pennsylvania executive order established the Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command to address the state’s workforce shortage and talent needs, recommend action to reduce or eliminate impediments to employment, and improve alignment of resources with private sector needs to build a skilled workforce and improve Pennsylvania’s economic vitality. The Workforce Command Center leverages the state open data portal for decision- and policymaking through a data dashboard, which is publicly available. 

Issue Areas: COVID-19, Economic Mobility, Health, Workforce

In 2020, the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board unanimously voted to adopt a four-tiered evidence framework for the state’s workforce system. The definitions for evidence of effectiveness include: strong evidence, moderate evidence, preliminary evidence, and pre-preliminary evidence.

In 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) launched the PDE Evidence Resource Center to help Pennsylvania schools thoughtfully apply high-quality, relevant research to their local settings. By listing evidence-based interventions in the areas of instruction and curriculum, student support and professional development, and student wellness, this tool helps school districts identify and select strategies to address every aspect of school improvement. This tool is also being used for the PDE’s research agenda that allows the department to identify and measure its progress in meeting its research and learning priorities.

Issue Areas: Economic Mobility, Education, Workforce

The Keystone STARS is Pennsylvania’s Quality Rating Improvement System at the Office of Child Development and Early Learning that aims to improve the quality of early childhood education programs through a performance standards framework leveraged in state contracts to providers. Early learning programs can earn a quality rating score from a STAR 1 to a STAR 4 based on meeting quality standards. Providers who participate have access to customized supports, grants, awards, and other financial assistance such as increased subsidized child care payments based on quality level. Eligibility criteria for child care providers to participate in other state-funded initiatives hinges on the STAR 3 or 4 designation; for example, PreK Counts funding is only available to STAR 3 or 4 child care providers, as noted in state regulations and program guidance. The William Penn Foundation supported an investigation with Institutes of Higher Education that support this decision. An Inquiry into PA Keystone STARS: Summary Report, found 4-year-old children in STAR 3 and 4 centers performed significantly higher on the WSS total score than those in STAR 1 and STAR 2 centers. Further, equitable support to achieve high quality and increased funding eligibility, providers have access to Quality Coaches who offer technical assistance and support to help child care providers increase their Star Rating. Coaches help conduct internal assessments using evidence-based observation instruments and provide guidance in developing a quality improvement plan.

Issue Areas: Economic Mobility, Education

In August 2021, the Department of Labor and Industry released a Notice of Grant Availability for up to $4 million of funding for Pennsylvania Industry Partnerships grants. Grant applicants will be evaluated in part by data collection and performance outcomes (15 points out of 100) as well as evidence building and project effectiveness (10 points out of 100). As part of the latter category, applicants must identify their level (or category) of evidence and “explain how they intend to strengthen their ability to utilize evidence for the purposes of evaluating program outcomes.”

Issue Areas: Economic Mobility, Workforce