Using 21st Century Technology to Plan, Monitor, and Advocate Locally Brenda LeTendre, Ed.D. Branagh Information Group External Evaluator to The Cal-SAFE Program The script that Brenda LeTendre used as she presented this slide show is included on the notes page of each slide. To view the script and the accompanying slide at the same time, go to the View menu in the Tool Bar for PowerPoint and click Notes Page.

Brenda’s Numbers

Why collect the data? For legislative report To guide services to students and their children To provide numbers for local advocacy To complete the Con App

Why evaluation? Legislative Report After 1st 5 years -- March 2005 After 2nd 5 years -- March 2010

Report on Status on the Legislative Goals # students who earn a high school diploma or its equivalent # who transition to postsecondary education or into the world of work. # who did not have a repeat birth before graduating from high school # who had normal weight babies # children who are on their immunizations

Why Legislative Report so important – will sway the decisions about future funding

Typical Cal-SAFE student: Female Single Hispanic Aged 16 or 17 In the 10 th or 11 th grade

If she was parenting at entry, Had only one child And held custody

If she birthed her child while in the Cal-SAFE Program, Delivered a healthy baby Began prenatal care in her 1 st trimester Received prenatal care in a health care clinic Paid for her prenatal care through Medi-Cal

Typically, the child of a Cal-SAFE Program student was: An infant A boy Healthy with no serious medical condition Developmentally normal Up-to-date on his immunizations

The typical child of a Cal-SAFE Program student: Normal weight at birth Stayed at Cal-SAFE sponsored child care center English primary language in the home High level of involvement with both his parents

The Typical Cal-SAFE Program Student Who Exited the Program Left having received a high school diploma Was 18 years of age Planned to enroll in a local community college Was not pregnant Was parenting only one child

March 2005: Substantive progress on the program goals established by the Legislature

Graduation Rate:

Legislative Goals REPORT CARDMet Goal 4: Students served who graduate will transition to postsecondary education, including a technical school, or into the world of work. √ Plans After Exit Pursue Further Education48.12% Have or look for a Job19.31% TOTAL67.43% n = 7,967

Legislative Goals REPORT CARD Met Goal 7: Students served will not have a repeat birth or father a repeat pregnancy before graduating from high school. √

Legislative Goals REPORT CARD Met Goal 8: Pregnant students served will not have a low birth weight baby. √

Legislative Goals REPORT CARDMET Goal 10: Children of enrolled teen parents will receive health screening and immunizations. √

The March 2005 drew from an extremely RICH database created using the original GradStar software.

A Bit of History: Cal-SAFE Data Collection No data collected other than number served Original GradStar software Original GradStar software BUDGET CUTS Consolidated Application data Consolidated Application data Consolidated Application data Consolidated Application data Data from Revised online GradStar forms Data from Revised online GradStar forms March 2010 Legislative Report due

Original GradStar: TOO expensive Consolidated Application: TOO basic Solution: Use an inexpensive off-the-shelf, canned piece of software to gather and store data state- wide

TIP to SAVE TREES: In print dialog box, specify that 2 or 4 pages get printed on one sheet; some will even allow for printing front & back.

Suggest that keep a local log of which students and children entered online Will post some Excel templates on next weekwww.gradstar

Demo of Demo of GradStarDataEntryLogV1LeT08Sept18.xls

NOTE: Once start a form MUST finish it. Can't come back at a later time & finish it.

This same procedure for all the online forms: Student Enrollment Child Information Pregnancy Outcome Student Exit Child Care Enrollment Support Services RECEIVED (Oct 2008)

NOTICE Needs Assessment/Support Services is NOT available online. – ONLY available in paper version – Will never be entered online – Scheduled for revision in Oct 2008

“Will I ever see my data again after hitting the SUBMIT button?” YES: 3x a year

After the Quarter (cut off date Oct 31, Excel file to you Week of Nov 3) After 1st Semester (cut off date Jan 16, Excel file to you Week of Jan 19) Around June 1

Will send “RAW” Excel data file May need to do some “polishing” Can create reports, tables, and graphs of YOUR data DEMO LeTendreUSD08Oct.xls

Other possibilities: Sort by Student Exit form follow-up date on the Student Exit form and create a list of students who need to be contacted after they leave your program Create a roster of students with contact information for home visits “Marry” all the information for a family, mother/father/baby Add additional information locally to the downloaded data set

COMING OCT to Today’s script & slides Excel templates to trackwhich students & children you have entered into the online state-wide GradStar Database Paper versions of the forms with * showing the online mandatory items Revised Needs Assessment/Support Services Form Support Services RECEIVED Form (new) Step-by-Step instructions on how to polish the raw data Excel files Expanded instructions (including helpful Tips) on how to complete each of the forms Frequently Asked Questions document Some options for tracking child care attendance

AGENCY CODE Make sure you're using the correct agency code - see list on 7 digits can be entered as with the hyphen OR without the hyphen

If use OLD FORMS before Aug 22: No need to complete new forms, EXCEPT must feed info into online system

Q: Can we enter babies before we enter the mom? A: Yes. The two forms are in two SEPARATE databases. Later you can then "marry" the children's info with the parents' info.

Q: If I have the mom and dad in Cal- SAFE, what do I do about the Child Info sheet? A: Complete ONLY ONE Child Information Sheet. You don’t want to count the same child twice. Same goes for the Child Care Enrollment Sheet.

Q: Will the online system be able to help us track child care attendance like the original GradStar software could do? A: No. However, during October I will post some options agencies can use to track child care attendance for the P1, P2, and Annual reports.

Q: I have continued using the original GradStar software. Should I exit students from last year that have not return this year? A: No need to exit students from last year who didn’t show this year. Since the online system is starting from scratch, it does not even know these students exist.

Q: Why do I have to keep inputting the same information – such as the student’s ID number and the agency number – into each of the forms? This is a pain! A: Unfortunately, unlike the original GradStar software the online system is not a relational database that can pull information entered in one form to fill in the same information in another form. Each of the online forms is actually a separate database that cannot “talk” with the other forms.

QUESTIONS???

Call or Brenda LeTendre cell: