Educational Outcome Measures for Courts January 19, 2012 Nora Sydow, J.D. National Center for State Courts National Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues

Outcome Areas The Focus Group created measures in these six outcome areas: School placement stability; Academic performance; Early education; Special education; Social behavior; and Postsecondary entrance rates.

Education Measures: School Stability Percentage of children under court jurisdiction who did not have a school change when they had a change in living placement Median number of school transfers while under court jurisdiction Median number of school days between the last day attended at old school to first day attended at new school

Education Measures: Academic Performance Percentage of school-aged children performing at or above grade level at case closure Percentage of children who drop out of school while under court jurisdiction Percentage of children who attended at least 95% of school days while under court jurisdiction

Education Measures: Early Education Percentage of children ages 3-5 who have been enrolled in an enriched early education childhood program while under court jurisdiction

Education Measures: Special Education Percentage of children ages 0-3 who have been evaluated for early intervention programs while under court jurisdiction Time from referral for special education services to assessment Time from completion of special education services assessment to delivery of services

Education Measures: Social Behavior Percentage of children under court jurisdiction who have received school disciplinary actions

Education Measures: Post-Secondary Education Percentage of high school graduates/GED holders under court jurisdiction who have been accepted into a post-secondary education program

Education Measures: Multiple Outcome Areas Percentage of ASFA hearings where the child’s education was addressed Percentage of hearings where the child’s education decision-maker was present

Focus Group Considerations The Focus Group sought to develop measures courts would actually implement. With that goal, the measures were designed to be: Relevant and meaningful to courts; Tied to education outcome areas; and Feasible.

Prioritizing the Measures The Focus Group identified four “key measures” Percentage of children under court jurisdiction who did not have a school change when they had a change in living placement Percentage of ASFA hearings where the child’s education was addressed Percentage of children ages 3-5 who have been enrolled in an enriched early education childhood program while under court jurisdiction Percentage of high school graduates/GED holders under court jurisdiction who have been accepted into a post-secondary education program How did the group prioritize?

What’s next for these measures? Continue to work with jurisdictions to pilot the measures Forthcoming article in Family Court Review, July 2012 issue Added to the full set of court well-being measures, developed in June 2011