EEC’s Parental Consent Form Authorization to Collect and Use Child Data

1. EEC’s Parental Consent FormAuthorization to Collect and Use Child Data January 31, 2013 and February 1, 2013

3. Supporting Optimal Child Development • EEC’s work is steeped in the notion that brain building is in progress for young children in enriching environments with caring adults and meaningful and engaging interactions. • Children's earliest experiences are especially important because building the human brain begins even before birth; a strong foundation in early years greatly increases the chance of positive outcomes. • Providing parents with access to comprehensive services, child development information and educational opportunities in the early years of their child’s life strengthens their capacity as their child’s first teacher.

4. Overview of the Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) ECIS (Early Childhood Information System) is an early learning data system that has been collaboratively designed to provide information that will improve instruction, practices, and services for early education programs, educators, and families. Core elements of the ECIS include: • Family Engagement • Child Development Screening and Assessment Data • Strength and Risk Analyses • Communication

5. Goals of EEC Data Collection Massachusetts has established three broad goals for data collection: • Provide parents/familieswith information about available early learning and development programs and give them information needed to support their children’s development. • Provide programs and services with formative assessment information about the children they serve and to improve individualized teaching and learning at the classroom and program level; and • Provide policy makers with information about the current use of early learning and development programs, capable of disaggregation to a local level and by different groupings of children (with a particular emphasis upon children with high needs.

6. Improving Education Experiences for Children Massachusetts is recognized as a national leader in education. As part of its essential work, EEC is committed to creating sustainable strategies for smoothing transitions and improving educational experiences for children in early learning settings from birth through Grade Three. Assignment of unique student identification numbers (State Assigned Student Identification numbers known as SASIDs) historically begins upon a child’s entry into public school. EEC will assign unique student identification numbers to children as they progress through the Commonwealth’s educational system. EEC and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) are engaged in longitudinal studies to monitor child outcomes as children transition from early education and care programs into public school and then progress into third grade.

7. How Will the Information be Used? EEC uses information and data to provide support to families and providers throughout the Commonwealth. • Information goals • Report on the status of children across ages and over time, encompassing data on home and community environments. • Document child outcomes across developmental domains (including health, early literacy, and social-emotional development) that can be linked across sectors, agencies, and programs (e.g. infants/toddlers, preschool, Early Intervention, family childcare, etc.). • Assist in the identification of early warning indicators at the pre-school level. • Ensure confidentiality of child and family data, adhering to the privacy requirements of both HIPAA and FERPA, and seeking parental consent when necessary.

8. Parental Consent Form In order to capture child identification data, EEC has developed a standardized parental consent form. This consent form is used by programs, CFCE grantees, and other resources funded or partnering with EEC in order to collect child data information, with the permission of parents. With a parent’s consent, child(ren)’s basic identification data may be used in the following ways: • Conduct Screening and/or Assessments; • Provide Families with Information about High Quality Early Education and Care Services; and • Provide Families with Information about Formal and Informal Early Educational Opportunities for Children Birth through 5 years old

9. Conduct Screening and/or Assessments Early education and care educators use screening tools to identify the unique needs of young children in their care which then allows educators to coordinate service provision and support families to locate and obtain needed services. Child assessment systems are used to capture information on children’s developmental progress through teacher observations of each child’s work and abilities. Screening and assessment results may be used by EEC to create aggregate, non-child specific reports to inform future decision-making and policy. Results of screenings and assessments will be shared with parents to help their children grow. Data related to screenings or developmental assessments of children will not be shared with other government or private agencies/entities other than the developer of the screening and/or assessment tool.

10. InformationSharing with Parents • High quality early education and care services. Parents who provide consent for contact will receive information on a town-by-town basis about community programs and supports as well as general child development guidance.  This information will help families find quality services or experiences for their children and answer parents’ general questions about their child(ren)’s growth, learning and development. • Formal and informal early educational opportunities for children birth through 5 years old. Parents who provide consent will be contacted regarding available early educational opportunities such as Head Start/Early Head Start, Early Education and Care programs, Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Programs, or the Maternal Infant, and Early Childhood Visiting Programs.   State and local community resources and opportunities will be shared with parents in a variety of ways, including email, text message, phone and web notices.

11. Parents must Authorize Child(ren)’s Data Sharing Any child information shared with EEC may only be used in accordance with the authorizations contained in the parental consent form. Except as otherwise authorized or required by law, the information will be kept confidential. Parents may select the following options that are included on the consent form: • Conduct child screening and/or assessments; collect and maintain the outcomes/results; provide information about the screening/assessment and answer questions about children’s growth, learning, and development; • Allow EEC to collect information provided by formal and/or informal early educational programs and settings to measure children’s growth and outcomes statewide as children transition into public school; and • Assist me to find quality opportunities, services and supports for me and my family to help my children to grow (information on child resources, services, activities and/or supports within the community).

12. Information Requested The Parental Consent Form requests the following basic child identification information: • Last Name • First Name • Middle Name • DOB • City of Birth • Gender (M/F) • Parental Contact Information (name, address, relationship to child) and as well as telephone, cell phone, and email information (indicating preferred method of contact). • Authorization:Parent authorizes EEC to use the data for the children identified on the form or parent elects not to participate, with an understanding that services will still be provided to the parent and/or family. • Information and instruction on how to revoke authorization.

13. Questions? CFCE Grantees can submit questions to: Gail DeRiggi, EEC Senior Policy Analyst gail.deriggi@massmail.state.ma.us • UPK Grantees can submit questions to: Jay Swanson, EEC Policy Analyst • john.swanson2@massmail.state.ma.us • Parents can submit questions to: commissioners.office@massmail.state.ma.us