PROJECT BRIEF

BACKGROUND

Data-driven decision making from government employees facilitates transparency, efficacy, efficiency, and citizen satisfaction. Previously, the Spring 2025 Paragon Policy Fellowship cohort partnered with the City of Tempe to develop a data literacy and ethics curriculum. Building on this effort, the Summer 2025 cohort developed a municipal data landscape analysis, allowing the City to gain insight into how its employees interact with and understand data. 

AIMS

The project aimed to determine a framework, along with its tools and implementation strategy, necessary to classify employees’ data proficiency. By harnessing the developed framework, the City of Tempe can then collect the necessary information to effectively implement a comprehensive data governance strategy.

METHODOLOGY

A literature review identified existing data competencies employed throughout academia and industry, case studies of other cities employing data governance strategies, and existing literature competency assessments. Key stakeholders across the City and academia were interviewed to gain an understanding of how public servants use data, think of data skills, and prioritize data literacy elements. The data literacy competency survey development was grounded in literature surrounding survey question development, previous data curriculum content, and existing online assessments. The team also harnessed code to develop data visualizations and data sets. 

DELIVERABLES

In order to assess the identified data literacy competencies, the team developed a self-evaluation questionnaire and assessment that can be used to evaluate proficiency in various data skills. For data proficiency classification, six data literacy competencies were identified in this work based on the synthesis of many of these models and competencies found throughout academia and industry. The proposed implementation strategy also provided clear steps for confirming the validity and reliability of the survey.

IMPACT AND FUTURE WORK

The analysis provided gives key short-term, mid-term, and long-term steps for future work. These steps include guidance for the implementation of large-language models for assessment grading and suggestions for harmonization between the recently developed municipal data landscape analysis and the previously developed data literacy curriculum.

By harnessing this municipal data landscape analysis in addition to the previously developed data curriculum, Tempe will be primed to further implement data governance policy relevant to the needs of City employees and Tempe’s inhabitants.