Review of digital records continuity addresses the unit of analysis, source definitions, missing data and transfer beyond the reported setting.
Evidence base for digital records continuity
The conditions described by the information preservation during disruption create an exceptional operating context for digital records continuity.
Application to digital records continuity
Analysis should make its decision rule explicit. An average may improve while a material group experiences no improvement or a worse outcome. For digital records continuity, disaggregation should follow a defined public-interest question and should protect confidentiality where small numbers could identify individuals.
- Are group definitions stable?
- Which groups are concealed by the aggregate?
- Which disparity requires action first?
- Could missing data be unequal?
- Are sample sizes adequate?
Controls for digital records continuity
Failure in relation to the available evidence may arise even where the stated policy is reasonable. Material concerns include loss or corruption of learner records, temporary measures becoming permanent without review, uncontrolled changes to assessment, and loss of contact with learners. Across the defined scope, materiality depends on the consequence and extent of an exception, not only on how often it appears in sampled records.
Review of digital records continuity
This may require data backup and recovery tests, assessment variation approvals, welfare referral and safeguarding records, and a current continuity plan with decision thresholds, supported by records of affected learners and essential services and alternative delivery and accessibility arrangements. Further cases should be examined when the initial sample does not represent the affected scope or confirm sustained correction.
Authorities and providers reviewing the comparison should proceed in a defined sequence. Review of the available evidence should examine results by relevant learner, programme, location and delivery characteristics; compare both levels and rates of change; and test whether observed gaps persist after differences in coverage and prior conditions are considered.
Implications for digital records continuity
For decisions concerning digital records continuity, decisions concerning the comparison should remain traceable to the information available for the stated reference period.
In examining digital records continuity: interpreting regional variation, across the defined scope, governance between participating bodies should make information duties and corrective authority explicit.
Different administrative structures may support the same public-interest outcome.
Evidence concerning digital records continuity should inform action without implying a level of precision, coverage or causal certainty that the underlying data cannot support.
Evidence may be incomplete and normal controls may be unavailable, but uncertainty should be stated rather than converted into unsupported assurance.