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Demographics Domain
Overview
The Demographics domain contains information describing characteristics of students that are used to understand population composition, analyze equity outcomes, and disaggregate reporting metrics. These attributes describe who students are rather than what they do in school.
Demographic data is used across the Oregon Data Suite in Reports, Progress Monitoring, Dashboards, and other locations to identify trends and differences in outcomes across student groups. Many demographic attributes are defined by state and federal reporting requirements. In Oregon, student demographic data definitions are primarily determined by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and federal reporting standards under the U.S. Department of Education.
The sections below describe how demographic fields are defined, categorized, and interpreted within the system.
Student Race and Ethnicity Classifications
The race/ethnicity data in the Oregon Data Suite Platform is based Oregon Department of Education rules which are in turn based on Federal Race and Ethnicity categories defined by the US Department of Education. These guidelines allow a respondent to self-identify his or her race and ethnicity and allow a respondent to select more than one racial or ethnic designation.
The new standards require the use of a two-part question, focusing first on ethnicity and second on race when collecting the data from individuals.
The first question is regarding ethnicity and asks if the student is Hispanic/Latino. According to federal guidance, the definition of Hispanic/Latino is as follows:
A Hispanic or Latino person is of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
The second question is regarding race and includes the option to select one or many races. As per federal guidance, the definition of each race is identified below:
An African American or Black person has origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
An American Indian or Alaska Native person has origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
An Asian person has origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
A Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander person has origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
A White person has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
School districts report student level data to the Oregon Department of Education who then reports school level data to the US Department of Education using an aggregated student race and ethnicity which applies the following rules:
If the individual self identifies as… | Report as… |
|---|---|
Hispanic only, or Hispanic and any race category | Hispanic |
Not Hispanic; American Indian or Alaska Native only | American Indian or Alaska Native |
Not Hispanic; Asian only | Asian |
Not Hispanic; Black or African American only | Black or African American |
Not Hispanic; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander only | Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander |
Not Hispanic; White only | White |
Not Hispanic; more than one race category | Two or more races |
In the Oregon Data Suite, we capture and store both the Aggregated Student Race and Ethnicity and the Disaggregated Student Level Flags. You will both presented throughout the ODS platform. When you see a report, metric, filter, etc. using a single column or value for Student Race or Student Ethnicity that is the Aggregated Student Race and Ethnicity Value. When there are multiple columns or values for each specific flag (Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, White, etc.) you are seeing the Disaggregated Student Level Flags.