Early Childhood Information System (ECIS)

1. Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) Presentation to: Massachusetts State Board of Early Education and Care June 14, 2011

2. A Call to Arms: Executive Order #505 Governor Patrick’s Executive Order #505 establishing the MA Readiness Cabinet set out four core beliefs and expectations Each child deserves the best possible opportunity Education and development occur in families, neighborhoods, communities, the schools and in the broader society Services, programs and delivery systems must collectively address the needs of the whole child and his or her family Accomplishing this will depend upon a consistent, efficient and effective coordination of effort among governmental agencies

3. A Call to Arms: Research from Other States • The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) identifies • three “overarching imperatives for changing • the culture around data use and maximizing • states’ investments in longitudinal data systems.” • 1) Link Systems • 2) Ensure Access and Use • 3) Build Capacity The Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR) collects kindergarten-readiness data (including data on the type of care received prior to kindergarten), which is later linked to the state’s K-12 database. Pennsylvania’s Enterprise to Link Information for Children across Networks (PELICAN) is a single integrated information system that collects data from both students and their teachers enrolled in the state’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning programs. Rhode Island’s KIDSNET statute designates the assignment of a unique child identifier at birth. KIDSNET is used to assure that all Rhode Island children have access to prevention and public health services, and care coordination.

4. EEC’s Legislative Obligations Related to ECIS Development EEC Statutes • Establish and maintain a comprehensive database of children, providers and educators (that is, workforce) compatible with other departments • Collect, analyze and report on data obtained by measuring child and program/service outcomes • Massachusetts Law • Comprehensivedatabase that includes child/family, program and workforce information • Database shall be compatible with relevant databases at the ESE and the EOHHS • EEC shall “collect and disseminate information to assist parents in nurturing their children's development and education” • There shall be a five-year strategic plan and a comprehensive system for “measuring the performance and effectiveness of programs…”

5. Key Issues in Developing the ECIS in line with Regulatory Requirements • A mismatch exists between the Governor’s intent to track information on all children and EEC’s authorization to include information only on children in early education and care programs • The statutorily-mandated data system must have compatibility with databases at DESE and EOHHS that is not currently in place • The system will require agreement on unique identifiers and the establishment of a cross-agency data governance structure • Authorization for real-time, cross-agency data sharing is needed

6. A Call to Arms: Amendment to EEC Legislation Amend Ch. 15D, §2 (q) [Early education and care department; duties] to add: In designing and implementing said federated data system the Department shall assign a unique child identifier to each child up to the age of eight receiving any public funding that will be maintained as his/her unique identifier through the K-12 system. Said federated data system shall be used for the purpose of furthering the Department’s mandates under this Chapter. The Department may collect and maintain demographic, program participation, and developmental data pertaining to children participating in the Department’s licensed or funded programs and/or receiving any public funding, the purposes of which shall include: (1) monitoring the health, safety and school readiness of all children receiving early education and care from any program licensed or funded by the Department; (2) monitoring the characteristics of the programs in which such children are served; and (3) developing, coordinating and supporting public and private partnerships to aid early childhood initiatives and establishing positive outcomes of well being, health development, and caregiver and community capacities to determine program and policy levers. The Department shall promulgate regulations governing the collection, maintenance and use of said data, and shall ensure that said data is maintained in accordance with all applicable state and federal privacy protections; provided further that said regulations shall allow information to be shared with ESE, DCHD and EOHHS pursuant to a cross- agency data governance structure to the extent that such data sharing is aligned with state and federal privacy protections, or exceptions authorized by parental consent

7. A Call to Arms: Key Takeaways from the ECIS Strategic Planning Institute • exchange • Current lack of a coordinated process for gathering information across state agencies • Current absence of data sharing agreements that could ensure appropriate data use while respecting family privacy • Need for outcomes information to evaluate program and workforce quality and effectiveness • Collect information about strength-based attributes of families and communities • Convey important information about child growth and development • Connect families to opportunities and resources necessary for their children’s well-being • Engagement of families, agencies, and community partners • System must benefit all users and this benefit must be clearly articulated Universal need for data sharing and exchange Focus on preventative, strengths-based measures Shared Benefits

8. A Call to Arms: Key Takeaways from the ECIS Strategic Planning Institute System privacy and access • Link data across agencies from birth to age nine • Limitations due to HIPAA and FERPA, lack of ISAs, and statutory regulations • Parental Consent • Need for clear system ownership and maintenance responsibility • Developing shared data priorities across stakeholder groups • Leveraging existing systems and resources to avoid duplication of effort • Identifying universal definitions of selected data elements Data selection challenges

9. Dr. Jack Shonkoff: The Impact of Early Adversity on Children’s Development • Science-based framework for decisions about policies, systems, and practices that support the healthy development of all young children and their families

10. A Call to Arms: The Data Advisory Working Group Charged with supporting planning activities such as … • Identifying priority questions for the ECIS to answer and needed data indicators • Identifying communication strategies for parents • Advancing data sharing through the execution of ISAs Work to date… • Approved language for draft amendment • Identified key characteristics of the ECIS • Must be family-centered • Collaboration is critical • Communications must be sensitive to families and communities

11. A Call to Arms: The Data Advisory Working Group Work to Date continued… • Approved language for parental communication and consent • What is the ECIS? • The ECIS is the Massachusetts information system that provides families with opportunities and resources to help their children grow up healthy and learning. The system also provides a platform for the Commonwealth to partner with families and children to support the important work of the development of young children. • What can the ECIS do for me and my family? • Help you find services or opportunities/experiences for children in your community. • Provide information about the quality of early education and care services that your child is using or would like to use. • Help coordinate multiple services you may be receiving for health care, education, housing and/or other supports.

12. A Call to Arms: The Data Advisory Working Group Approved language for parental communication and consent Why is Massachusetts using the ECIS? To answer your questions about your child’s growth, learning, and development. To make it easier for you to find and choose high quality services and supports for you and your family in helping your children to grow. To create a vehicle for parents to communicate about a full range of services for young children. Is my child’s information safe? The ECIS is dedicated to ensuring that your children’s information entered into the system is safe and secure. ECIS information is confidential, as protected under State and Federal privacy laws. For more information related to the protection of data, please see web link [www.xxxxx]

13. A Call to Arms: The Data Advisory Working Group The Data Advisory Working Group has identified the following questions as priorities for the ECIS to answer: • What resources are available in the state for early education and care and school readiness and how are they funded? • Based on established indicators, are Massachusetts children on track for well-being and success? • Are children meeting developmental milestones (including speech, language, etc) at B, 3, 4, and 5, K, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade? What are the gaps? Please see handout with top indicators identified for each question

14. A Call to Arms: The Data Advisory Working Group Work to Date continued… • Identified core developmental and academic points for data gathering and analysis • At birth • At age 3 • At age 4 • At age 5 • At the conclusion of 3rd grade • Identified core data elements to be collected • Full name of child • Child’s data of birth • Child’s full address • Data Elements Required for SASID Assignment: • EEC District Number • DOE ID • First Name • Middle Name • Last Name • Date of Birth • City of Birth • Gender • City/Town of Residence

15. The Commonwealth’s Bold Vision: Core Elements of the ECIS • Family Engagement • Parental Consent • Core Child Level Data • Self- Assessment Data • Child Development Screening and Assessment Data • Collected through ASQ, EVT, PVT, Social and Emotional Test, Woodcock-Johnson • Interagency Data Sharing • Interagency Service Agreements (ISAs) • Key risk and protective factors

16. The Commonwealth’s Bold Vision: Core Elements of the ECIS • Strength and Risk Analyses • Pull and match child-level data from all above data sources • Report out on child-level critical strength and risk factors • Communication • General communication to all families on general child development advice and guidance and information on community events and resources • Targeted communication to families with children having 3 or more risk factors on other state agency resources and community supports to alleviate risks Cyclical process flow that encourages mutual and continuous benefits for all parties involved in the ECIS

17. The Commonwealth’s Bold Vision

18. Interagency Service Agreements • ISAs must be established in order to facilitate data sharing across agencies • Several meetings were held with various state agencies identified as having data that might be useful for the inclusion in the development of the ECIS • Department of Elementary and Secondary Education • Department of Housing and Community Development • Department of Public Health • Department of Revenue • Department of Transitional Assistance • Department of Children and Families (pending)

19. Risk/Protective Factor Data Available by Establishing ISAs

20. ECIS Scaled Approach Short-Term (1-2 Years) • Cleansing of department’s current legacy system data • Identification of links to the new Financial System, Workforce Registry, KinderWait, and Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) • Development of the federated database architecture and design of parent and provider web portals • Finalization of ISAs and identification of view access/VPN links to critical data held by those agencies • Begin data collection to answer three identified priority questions (within 18 months) In the short-term, the ECIS will focus on the most vulnerable children, but over time will seek to expand its focus to all children in the Commonwealth.

21. ECIS Scaled Approach Mid- and Long-Term (2-5 Years) • More in-depth linking across EEC legacy systems to create a single location where staff, providers, and parents can access the various forms of early childhood information • Longitudinal data analyses throughout the full period of early and middle childhood, the high school years, and into young adulthood • Ability to provide information to answer key policy questions related to the development of young children and their access to state and locally-funded resources to support their well-being • Ability for the Commonwealth to target its resources to: • critical points in the lives of children • effective programs serving them, thus producing the greatest possible return on investment for the Commonwealth as a whole