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Researchers say Ohio already has data infrastructure to support proposed Education and Workforce ROI initiative
Summary
Joshua Hawley and other witnesses told the Senate Education Committee the Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive (OLDA) already links multiple state agencies and can produce deidentified research files and dashboards that would support the Return on Investment initiative in SB 328; the Ohio Life Sciences Association also urged structured early career exploration for students.
Witnesses told the Senate Education Committee that the state has an existing data foundation for the Return on Investment initiative proposed in Senate Bill 328. Joshua Hawley, director at the Ohio Education Research Center at Ohio State, described OLDA as a secure cross-agency resource that brings administrative records from multiple state agencies into deidentified, research-ready datasets within the Innovate Ohio platform. "The OLDA is Ohio's secure cross agency data system ... It launched in 2012 ... and it currently contains records from 5 state agencies inside the Innovate Ohio platform," Hawley said, describing dashboards and workforce-success measures that track employment and earnings outcomes for education and workforce programs.
Willow Bluestone of the Ohio Life Sciences Association testified in support of SB 328’s career-exploration provisions, saying the bill would introduce structured career exploration in grades 6–8 and help connect students to real-world pathways, with industry partnerships such as Bio Pathways cited as models for early exposure. Bluestone said improved ROI reporting and use of existing state data would help target investments to programs that deliver better outcomes.
Hawley told the committee that OLDA already supports high-school graduate reports, talent-gap analyses and credential reporting, and that the archive can prepare deidentified files after agency approvals for research access. He recommended building on OLDA’s governance and data-linkage capabilities rather than creating duplicative systems.
Committee members thanked the witnesses and noted the testimony when considering SB 328’s reporting and governance provisions.
