Ep. 446: Can data help at-risk youth?

Guest: Bill Warburton, economist

Can “a scientific approach to addressing social issues using administrative data” improve outcomes in education, health, social services and crime?

That is the hypothesis of a new paper published by four distinguished Canadian economists. The authors say there is a “relationship between measures of secondary educational attainment and indicators of poor outcome later in life. Poor outcomes are seen to primarily manifest among high school dropouts.”

One of the authors of the paper, Bill Warburton, says that, “By using data, we can identify 2,000 students in a given year that are at extreme risk of having poor educational outcomes.” Warburton goes on to say, “The earlier we can identify these students, the earlier we can provide them with the specific resources they need to dramatically improve the likelihood of graduating from high school.”

The paper boldly states the challenge: “At first blush, the solution seems clear: governments should invest in proven interventions early in children’s lives.” But Warburton says, “The political will needs to be there because, as a BC cabinet member pointed out, there is a deficiency in public trust, noting the very long time between investment and payoff.”

We invited economist Bill Warburton to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the data and how we can use it to improve students' lives.