Performance Measures
Overview
There are 26 Cal-OAR Performance Measures, which, per WIG 11523(1)(A)(i) and (ii) include both process and outcome measures across the following categories: participant engagement, service delivery, participation, employment, educational attainment, program exits and reentries, and other family and child well-being measures. The measures were developed by CDSS in consultation with the mandated Cal-OAR workgroup, and are used within the Cal-CSA and Cal-SIPs. The performance measures are updated monthly on the public Cal-OAR Data Dashboard.
During the first five-year cycle, data baselines will be established for each of the available process measures and this initial data will form the basis of standard target thresholds for those process measures, which will be established in consultation with the workgroup by July 1, 2026.
Performance Measures FAQs
Cal-OAR Secure File Transfer (SFT) Files
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What, When, Why, How to on Cal-OAR Files, and where to access the crosswalk to validate performance measures.
- What am I supposed to do with the Cal-OAR files that I get from California Department of Social Services (CDSS) every month/quarter?
- When do I get the files each month?
- How long do files stay in the Secure Automated File Exchange (SAFE)/ Secure File Transfer (SFT) site?
- How do I find out who in my county has access to the Secure Automated File Exchange (SAFE)/ Secure File Transfer (SFT) site?
- Can you please provide us with the files from a current or previous time period?
- How can I get permission to access individual-level data files for Phase 0 performance measures?
- What does a * mean in the files?
- Where can I find the crosswalk to help manually validate Cal-OAR performance measures?
- When manually validating the Cal-OAR 19 files and comparing them with the measure calculations in the workbooks, I keep getting a discrepancy. What should I do?
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Cal-OAR Dashboard
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Help answer questions on how to mask performance measure data, how to validate data that is de-identified, and other questions.
- How do we suppress or mask our county’s performance measure data from the Cal-OAR dashboard.
- Why can’t I see certain measures on the dashboard?
- If our data is de-identified on the dashboard, how are we supposed to validate our data for the County Self-Assessment (CSA)?
- The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) dashboard posted to the website is not comprehensive for our county or is missing data.
- How the data is recorded when a client marks two (2) ethnicities, which ethnicity appears on the dashboard?
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County Self-Assessment (CSA) Data
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Time period data used for first and second CQI cycle.
- Which months of data were used for the first cycle Cal-CSA reports?
- Which months of data will be used for the second cycle Cal-CSA reports?
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Consortia-Related
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Where to go for CalSAWS help and how to view data before submitted to CDSS.
- I’m having a problem with California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) data. Can you help?
- Does California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) have a feature that allows us to view our data before it is submitted to CDSS?
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Online CalWORKs Appraisal Tool (OCAT) Data
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How to access county OCAT data.
- How can I access my county’s OCAT data?
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Performance Measure Populations
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Which populations are included in performance measure calculations.
- Are RCA (Refugee Cash Assistance) populations included in the performance measure calculations?
- Are Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program (TCVAP)?
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Phase 0, 1, and 2 Performance Measure Specifics
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Measure assessment and information on Rate of Program Reentries measure, Sanction Rate, and measures in development.
- Does the Cal-OAR measure “Rate of Program Reentries” track if a client re-enters CalWORKs in another county?
- Is the sanction rate calculated based on newly sanctioned cases each month?
- How can we distinguish between long-term sanction and regular sanction cases in the Cal-OAR 19 files?
- When manually validating sanction resolution rate utilizing the Cal-OAR 19 files, I could not exactly replicate the results in the workbook. Why is this?
- Why are clients in Good Cause status included in the denominator of Engagement Rate and OCAT/Appraisal Completion Timeliness Rate measures?
- When will the Phase 2 measures be produced?
- Where should counties enter in their Home Visiting Program (HVP) data in the California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWs) screens?
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Changes to California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) logic of Cal-OAR variables
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Programming changes to Engagement Rate, OCAT/Appraisal Completion Timeliness Rate,and OCAT/Appraisal to Next Activity Timeliness Rate and to the measure variables.
- Engagement Rate Programming Changes
- OCAT/Appraisal Completion Timeliness Rate Programming Changes
- OCAT/Appraisal to Next Activity Timeliness Rate Changes
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List of Definitions
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List of terms used in this FAQ document.
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Performance Measures One Pagers