Nick Hart, President of the Data Foundation, issued the following statement in response to new executive orders from President Biden this week:

The efforts by the Biden-Harris administration to prioritize data for addressing pandemic response and social equity issues are a promising sign about the path ahead for using data to responsibly inform policymaking. Three actions demonstrate incredible progress and momentum about the role data will play in the administration’s efforts:

Executive Order on Data for COVID-19 Response. This sweeping executive order establishes new processes and expectations to improve federal data collection and collaboration that are long overdue, including ensuring the American people have access to more open data. This effort will require strong leadership from the White House staff and moving beyond reports to support immediate actions. Fulfilling the implementation requirements of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act and establishing a National Secure Data Service, while not mentioned explicitly, will help realize the intent of this executive order.
Establishment of a Social Equity Data Working Group. As part of an executive order to advance racial equity, the creation of a new working group to assess gaps and strategies for addressing inadequacies is a major milestone. Further developing the capabilities to measure and assess diversity is much needed in government.
New Data Collection for Measuring COVID-19 Impacts. The President’s executive order on school reopening during and after the pandemic includes direction to gather key data to more fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on students and educators. In 2020, the Data Coalition Initiative called for the Department of Education to launch a School Pulse Survey and the executive order creates the path to do so, as well as to implement other data enhancements.

The Data Foundation and the members of our Data Coalition Initiative look forward to supporting the Biden-Harris administration in fulfilling these and other data priorities. It is also incumbent on Congress to ensure resources are available to support these critical data priorities for our country.

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