Solving The Data Puzzle: A “How To” Guide for Cross-System Collaborations
Effective Models for Sharing Data & Improving Child Welfare Outcomes
Maura McInerney, Esq. Education Law Center
November 4, 2011
http://www.abanet.org/child/education/
Legal Center for
Foster Care & Education
A joint project of the ABA, Education Law Center, Juvenile Law Center in collaboration with Casey Family Programs, Annie E. Casey Foundation & Stuart Foundation.
A national technical assistance resource and information clearinghouse on legal and policy matters affecting the education of children and youth in out-of-home care
Website: www.abanet.org/child/education
Data: The Key to Change …..
Only one third receive high school diploma in four years; Twice as likely to drop out
– Philadelphia study: 75.2% of youth in care dropped out of high school in 2005
2-4 times as likely to repeat a grade – California study: 83% of children in care in Los Angeles were held
back in school by the third grade
Significantly below their peers on standardized tests– lower reading levels and lower grades in core academic subjects
While 70% of foster youth dream of attending college, 7-13% gain access to any higher education programs and 2% obtain bachelor’s degrees.
What Sharing Data Can Do For You
Indentify systemic problems Develop effective policies & priorities to
– Improve education outcomes– Increase accountability of systems
Target funding (e.g., school stability) – Increase and target $$ for specific goals
Educate and facilitate collaboration among multiple systems: Education, Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, Employment, Job Training, Vocational, etc.
What Sharing Student-level Data Can Do:
Identify individual educational needs of child Track child over time and through systems Trigger prompt intervention Inform other decisions (e.g., placement and
transition goals) Enhance and improve delivery of services to
individual child
What Child Welfare Can Learn from Education Data
Are we meeting our legal mandates for ensuring attendance and school stability?
What do we need to change: Is there a correlation between educational failure and type of placement, length of placement, multiple school moves, lack of education advocate, emotional/behavioral problems, failed adoption; impact of school discipline, improve transition planning re education issues.
What is the impact of: – Prompt enrollment, school stability, trauma-
informed curriculum; positive behavioral supports Longitudinal data: track children through school AND
across systems – employment, medical etc.
Child Welfare Agencies: Well-being & Permanency Outcomes
Identify changes made in performance and practice since previous Statewide Assessment such as initiatives/strategies implemented by the State and ensure compliance with requirements of Fostering Connections, CFSRs, AFCARs
**Provide quality assurance results or other data about educational assessments and services (how educational needs are assessed; inclusion of educational needs in the case plan and documentation in the child's record; what services the agency provides, role of bio and foster parent)
What Education Can Learn By Sharing Data What are the barriers to educational success for this student
population? Are they promptly enrolled, approriately placed? Are there disproportionate referrals to alternative education or
cyber programs? Are they able to equally access vocational technical programs, challenging courses etc.?
How can schools address common barriers and improve outcomes through new policies, procedures etc.
Are additional services/supports needed (e.g., credit recovery) Improve collaborations with child welfare & expand access to
child welfare-based services Teacher development training Curriculum changes
What Courts Can Learn From Sharing Data Percentage of hearings where the child’s education was addressed Number of school transfers while under court jurisdiction Percentage of children in each type of school placement while under court jurisdiction Percentage of children attending school Percentage of children whose GPA declined or improved while under court jurisdiction Percentage of children whose attendance rate declined under court jurisdiction Percentage of children under court jurisdiction ages 0-3 referred to Early Intervention Percentage of children under court jurisdiction ages 0-3 enrolled in Early Intervention Percentage of children under court jurisdiction receiving special education services Percentage of children under court jurisdiction that referred for evaluation for spec ed. Percentage of children suspended from school and impact on living placement Percentage of children expelled from school & impact on placement Percentage of children who graduate from High School/GED programs Percentage of children accepted into a higher education program
Look at Your System:What Data Is Being Collected, By Whom and to What End?
What is Education Collecting?What is Child Welfare Collecting?What Are Courts Sharing? What is the purpose of the data collection? Where/how is the information maintained? How is it currently being used? What child welfare data relates to the educational outcomes
of children in care? How could current data be revised/expanded to improve
educational outcomes for children in care? How could it be shared across systems?
What Could Systems Collect/Share
Type of educational placement: public school, residential settings (on-site school, homebound etc.)
School completion rates: Drop out, years to complete high school; reasons for dropping out and at what age
Credit Issues: Document problems with credits, obtaining high school diploma
Transition Readiness: level of education, life skills training, transition plans.
What Could The Systems Collect/Share
School Mobility: Whether living placement resulted in school change & re-enrollment
Special Ed: Early intervention; evaluations requested/conducted; special education services delivered as child moves; type of learning/devp’l disability; decisionmaker
Early Childhood Education: Participation in Headstart/other programs: what age/how long
Discipline: Suspensions, expulsions, alternative education for disruptive youth
What is Education Already Collecting
All States Collect Data– NCLB: No Child Left
Behind / IDEA Electronically Maintained Student Specific
Identification Numbers
Each State May Collect– Additional Data (e.g.,
discipline info, links to other agencies)
No Child Left Behind Act: What is It?
Seeks to improve educational performance and eliminate achievement gaps between groups of students.
Requires States to implement accountability systems at the state, school district and school level.
Strongly endorses use of longitudinal data:– “Each State may incorporate the data from assessments into
longitudinal data systems that link student test scores, length of enrollment and graduation records over time.”
– U.S. Dept. of Ed provides funding to states to develop systems to link records over time OR to identify best educational practices. See http://ies.ed.gov/funding/
Data Already Collected Under NCLB
Attendance: Days “absent without excuse” and days enrolled in school
School Enrollment: Tracks student mobility, enrollment delays & grade level designation at time of enrollment
Academic Progress* Standardized scores Special Education* Disability & Services Program Template: Participation in remedial &
other programs (Title I, HS)
* = May be separate data system in your state
“Student” Level Data
Gender Race/Ethnicity Student Status – Court placed “or” alt ed. Economic status (Free/Reduced Lunch Program) Educationally Disadvantaged under Career and Technical Education
programs Plan 504 Indicator/Special Ed LEP Participation/English Proficiency/Language
Breakdown/Language/ Home Language Code Courses – Advanced courses only Grade retention Expected Graduation, Graduation Status Code & Type of Diploma Expected Post Graduate Activity
What Does Each State’s Data Already Tells Us
Number of times children change schools Attendance Grade retention & eligibility for supplemental
education services State test proficiency in core subjects Special Education & LEP participation Participation in specific remedial programs Graduation status & expected post-secondary Drop out & graduation rates
What Could Education Collect
“Prompt” Enrollment (FL example) Truancy Rates under State Law School Performance (e.g., San Diego) Special Education – (evaluation requested) Academic Progress – expanded definition Program Data – vocational & ESY Course enrollment (beyond AP courses) Credit transfers Discipline placements in school On-time graduation rates & higher ed data
What’s Happening In YOUR State
Data Quality Campaign– http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/survey_result
s/index.cfm Education Commission of the States
– http://mb2.ecs.org/reports/Report.aspx?id=913
Data Sharing Action Plan
Step I: Identify Subset of Children Step II: Child Welfare System’s Data Step III: Education’s Data: Can Education disaggregate
non-student specific data using:– Social security nos. (matched with student IDs) – Residency codes – already in Education system– Address/name cross match– Other system
Step IV: Can data be shared across systems? What agreements? What are the barriers?
Step V: Can longitudinal data track these children over time & after they age out?
Barriers to Sharing Data & Information Across Systems: Real & Perceived
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act42 U.S.C. § 5101 et. seq.; § 5116 et. seq.
Purpose: Provides guidance to states related to their child protective services systems, including: reporting, investigating, supporting collaboration among agencies, and specifying confidentiality and information sharing.
Allows for information sharing in two ways:– When a state statute* authorizes the sharing of child welfare
information with the school system– When school system has a need for limited information to
protect the child from abuse and neglect. *Supports and enhances collaboration among agencies, including
linkages with education systems
Sharing Information:Real & Perceived Barriers
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act20 U.S.C. § 1233g; 34 CFR Part 99
Purpose: to protect privacy interests of parents and students regarding the students’ education records
Parent’s have the right to share or refuse to share records
Exceptions to parental consent
What Education Records Can Be Shared with Child Welfare:
Non-student specific data Directory Information If It qualifies as an education record,
– Need parent consent Parental Consent Form (common practice: time of placement)
– OR falls under FERPA exceptions to consent (court order is one of the exceptions)
FERPA Definitions
Education records: Records that are directly related to a student and maintained by an educational agency or institution, or by a party acting for the agency or institution. See 34 CFR § 99.3
Parent : Natural parent, a guardian, or an individual acting as a parent in the absence of a parent or a guardian.
FERPA CONSENT NOT REQUIRED:Non-personally identifiable Information
Student is identified by non-personal identifier – Identifier itself is not a scrambled Soc. Sec.
unless such identifiers are protected by written agreements reflecting generally accepted confidentiality standards within the research community; and
– cannot be linked to an student by anyone who does not have access to the linking key;
– data file is populated by data from education records in a manner that ensures that identity of any student is not easily traceable.
FERPA Exceptions (15)
Directory Information (subject to Opt-out)– name, address, phone, date and place of birth,
participation in officially recognized activities and sports, and dates of attendance.
Law Enforcement Exception: disclosure to state and local authorities within department of juvenile justice
Emergency Exception: Disclosure to “appropriate parties” in connection with “emergency” to protect health and safety of student or other persons;
Judicial order or subpoena: Comply with court order **– With notice of disclosure to parent/student
FERPA Compliance Tips
Parental Consent Form– Must notify parent of what they are sharing
and with whom, for what purpose & duration – Writing must be clear & user friendly
Court Order– MUST be specific (not CW determines educat.) – Individualized (CANNOT be blanket order)– Reflect notice to FERPA parent– May limit scope of education records or use
FERPA definition
FERPA: Proposed Amendments
Create a limited exception to parental notification and consent requirements permitting disclosure to child welfare where a student has been adjudicated dependent, the agency has legal custody of the child in out-of-home care, and the child’s parent or eligible student has received written notice of the proposed release
Permit redisclosure where a child welfare agency obtains education records pursuant to § 99.31(17) to redisclose records to foster parents, group home caseworkers, and other individuals responsible for the education, care or treatment of the student.
FERPA: Proposed Amendments
Amend “eligible student” definition in 34 C.F.R. § 99.3 to include youth who meet the McKinney-Vento definition of “unaccompanied youth”
Include IDEA parents in the definition of parent under FERPA.
Expand research exception.
Sharing Information To Improve Educational Outcomes
Education to Child Welfare
Child Welfare to Ed Joint Research Common Data System
Accessed by Multiple Agencies (with varying levels of accessibility)
Sharing Individual Student Data
Court order, other exception or written consent embedded as a matter of practice
MOU sets forth– Purpose and limitations of disclosure (expected
use) & duration– Who will access information and how– Protects against redisclosure to 3rd parties– Technological security protections/firewalls– Retention of records– Governance
Building Political Will
Cost of NOT sharing information– Anecdotal evidence, statewide data
Better Access = Better Outcomes: Examples– Child welfare, Educational, Permanency & Life
Ensure privacy & compliance w/ fidelity Ensure compliance with state mandates
– Fostering Connections/McKinney/CFSRs It WILL Reduce Costs: Cost of dropout (prison,
crime, drugs) & reduce time in foster care
Examples of Data Collection & Information Sharing
Washington State Florida Department of
Education Utah West Virginia Pima County, AZ California
– Los Angeles Education Coordinating Council
– San Diego– Fresno
How Can We Do This?
Tools– Solving the Data Puzzle:
http://www.abanet.org/child/education/publications/solvingthedatapuzzle.pdf
– Mythbusting: Breaking Down Confidentiality and Decision-Making Barriers to Meet the Education Needs of Children in Foster Care Author: Kathleen McNaught www.abanet.org/child/education
Funding Opportunities
Contact InformationMaura McInerney
Education Law Center [email protected]
www.elc-pa.org
1315 Walnut Street Suite 400Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-238-6970 Ext. 316
