Incorporating Early Childhood into Longitudinal Data Systems: What, Why and How Kathy Hebbeler, ECO at SRI International Lynne Kahn, ECO at FPG Presented at the OSEP Leadership Conference, Washington, DC August 2009 1

Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Center Initially, a 5-year project funded by OSEP in October 2003. Funded again October 2008 for another 5 years. Provide national leadership and technical assistance to states to advance the implementation of high-quality outcomes systems for early intervention and preschool special education programs. Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Can your state answer these questions? What percentage of children who received early intervention services are receiving special education services in kindergarten? For how many years do children who first receive special education services as preschoolers receive special education services? How many receive services in Grade 1? Grade 3? What percentage of children who received special education services as preschoolers are reading at grade level in Grade 3? How does this percentage differ across districts or regions? Early Childhood Outcomes Center

States have exciting new data about EC Special Education programs!! In February, 2010, states will report data to OSEP on the effectiveness of their Part B Section 619 programs (APR Indicator B7) This data can provide a foundation for a longer look at children’s success in school and in life Early Childhood Outcomes Center

New information on the progress children make in EC programs Questions you can ask: What percentage of these children later receive SpEd services? How do these children perform on assessments in Grade 3? Grade 8? HS? Do they graduate? What you will know: Which children leave preschool 619 services functioning at age expectations Early Childhood Outcomes Center

New information on the progress children make in EC programs Questions you can ask: Do these children continue to catch up in Sp Ed services in the early grades? How long do these children continue to be eligible for Sp Ed services? How do these children perform on Grade 3 assessments? Grade 8? What you will know: Which children increase their rate of growth with preschool 619 services, but don’t catch up to age expectations Early Childhood Outcomes Center

New information on the progress children make in EC programs Questions you can ask: What proportion of the time do these children participate in regular classrooms in grade 3? Grade 8? What proportion participate in statewide assessments? What you will know: Which children leave preschool 619 services with the most significant service and support needs Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Where the new information comes from OSEP Reporting Requirements: Child Outcomes (Indicator C3 and B7) % of Children who make progress in: Positive social emotional skills (including positive social relationships) Acquisition and use of knowledge and skills (including early language/ communication [and early literacy]) Use of appropriate behaviors to meet their needs Early Childhood Outcomes Center

OSEP Child Outcome Reporting: Categories of Child Progress Percentage of children who: a. Did not improve functioning b. Improved functioning, but not sufficient to move nearer to functioning comparable to same-aged peers c. Improved functioning to a level nearer to same-aged peers but did not reach it d. Improved functioning to reach a level comparable to same-aged peers e. Maintained functioning at a level comparable to same-aged peers 3 outcomes x 5 “measures” = 15 numbers Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Children Identified for Services Under IDEA by Age (2005) 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 Number N = 7,005,463 Infants and toddlers N = 294,714 60,238 94,445 153,320 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Age Total number 411,206 487,806 508,789 519,151 299,772 519,394 417,249 13,348 41,865 158,404 245,526 361,130 453,485 503,519 513,795 521,054 484,057 209,320 28,590 Conventional wisdom was that the children identified under 1 became next year’s children, the under 2, etc., because these were the children with the most severe disabilities. But one can’t tell long term or even short tern outcomes from cross-sectional data. (From IDEAdata.org)

Changing service needs Status of former early intervention recipients in Kindergarten (from the National Early Intervention Longitudinal Study (NEILS)) Early Childhood Outcomes Center www.sri.com/neils/

Changing Service Needs Among 3, 4, and 5 year olds receiving special education, One year later, 16% were no longer receiving special education A year after that, another 13% were no longer receiving special education (from the Pre-Elementary Longitudinal Study (PEELS) www.peels.org Early Childhood Outcomes Center

From: Inequality at the Starting Gate (data from ECLS-K)

Early Childhood Matters Intervene early to reduce the gap Is this happening in your state? Where? With which children? How do you know EC services are making a difference? For how long? Effective early childhood services cannot inoculate children against poor instruction later. Early Childhood Outcomes Center

A State Example: Colorado’s Results Matter Purpose to positively influence the lives of children and families by using child, family, program and system outcomes data to inform early childhood practices and policy Components Authentic Assessment Longitudinal Analysis Family Outcomes Service and Program Quality Measures Professional Development Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Longitudinal Data Reading Writing Math Science Science This is reflective of the progress of a group of CPP children on the CSAP who attended preschool in 1996-1997. Children have been tracked through 10th grade in multiple subjects. DPS is large enough to have a good sample size, which is needed for both statistical power and to allow for children moving out of the district. DPS is also large enough that they can contract with a statistician/researcher to do this type of analysis. Thanks to Nick Ortiz of Colorado’s Results Matter and John Crawford of the Denver Public Schools for these data. 18

Longitudinal Data Reading Math Writing This is reflective of how multiple cohorts of children (attending preschool in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002) performed on CSAP assessments in 5th grade. Thanks to Nick Ortiz of Colorado’s Results Matter and John Crawford of the Denver Public Schools for these data. 19

Making Good Use of Data: Some Necessary Ingredients Set of good questions Data set with the required elements Analytic capability to analyze the data to address the question Commitment to use the information for program improvement Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Information Infrastructure: Data Needed for Program Improvement WHO SERVICES OUTCOMES QUALITY COST Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Early Childhood Outcomes Center Where is your state now? WHO SERVICES OUTCOMES What do you have? How much is linked? Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Tracking outcomes over time WHO SERVICES COST QUALITY OUTCOMES Grade 2 Tracking outcomes over time WHO SERVICES COST QUALITY OUTCOMES Grade 1 WHO SERVICES COST QUALITY OUTCOMES Kindergarten WHO SERVICES COST QUALITY OUTCOMES Preschool

Building Longitudinal Data Sets Need a data set that includes general and special education* Goal: Include data on young children with disabilities (starting at birth) in the data set *because of the movement in and out of special education Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Resources Data Quality Campaign www.dataqualitycampaign.org DQC just beginning to focus on early childhood Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Early Childhood Outcomes Center Funding Sources for Longitudinal Data Systems Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grants (IES) $250 million Grants are for 3 to 5 years for up to $9 million; due November 19, 2009 2005 – 14 states; 2007 – 12; 2009 – 27 Many states planning to include preschool http://nces.ed.gov/programs/slds/ Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Other funding opportunities State Incentive Grants (i.e., Race to the Top) - $4.35 billion Title I Funds - $13 billion Head Start - $1 billion State Advisory Councils on Early Childhood Education “develop recommendations for a unified data collection system for public early childhood programs and services throughout the state” Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Early Childhood Outcomes Center See Data Quality Campaign’s Roadmap http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/files/DQC-roadmap_singlepgs_FINAL_with_links.pdf for more information Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Extraordinary Opportunity Special education leadership needs to: Work to ensure Part C and 619 are/will be part of the state’s early childhood data system Work to ensure early childhood data are/will be linked to K-12 Early Childhood Outcomes Center

Visit us at www.the-eco-center.org

EC Outcomes Data: new data showing program effectiveness Question 1: How many children changed growth trajectories during their time in the program? Summary Statement 1: Of those children who [entered the program] below age expectations in each Outcome, the percent who substantially increased their rate of growth by the time they turned 6 years of age or exited the program. Early Childhood Outcomes Center

EC Outcomes Data: new data showing program effectiveness Concept 2: How many children were functioning like same aged peers when they left the program? Summary Statement 2: The percent of children who were functioning within age expectations in each Outcome by the time they turned 6 years of age or exited the program Note: In February 2010, states will set targets for the percentages in these summary statements Early Childhood Outcomes Center