1. Improving Data, Improving Outcomes Conference
The Insider's Guide to Data and Lessons Learned from the Race to the Top–Early Learning Challenge (and the Preschool Development Grant Program)
Improving Data, Improving Outcomes Conference
August 16, 2016
New Orleans, LA
Beth Caron
Program Director,
AEM Early Learning Challenge TA Center (ELC TA)
Rebecca Valenchis
AEM Early Learning Challenge TA Center, Preschool Development Grants TA Center (ELC TA & PDG TA)

2. Who Are We and Why Are We Here (at this session)?

3. Session Goals
Share information on data collections from RTT-ELC and PDG grant programs that relate to children with disabilities
Discuss data issues and challenges
Share some lessons learned from these programs about including children with disabilities
Highlight resources and potential next steps for moving data issues and inclusion forward

4. Related Presentations at this Conference
Monday
Opening Plenary with Federal Partners
Tuesday morning sessions
Federal Inter-agency Early Learning Initiatives
Tuesday late morning sessions
OSEP Listening Session on Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs
State of the States: Progress in Part C and 619 State Data Systems
Understanding what HIPPA Is and Is Not
Tuesday early afternoon sessions
High Quality Inclusion: A Data Use Perspective
Improving Programs through Data-driven Decisions
Wednesday sessions
Thinking about integrating your data? Where do I start?
Closing Plenary: Let’s Make Data Part of Everyone’s Toolkit!

5. Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge
Improving access to high-quality programs for children with disabilities

6. Overarching Goal of RTT-ELC
Increase the number of children with high needs who enter kindergarten
ready to succeed by
Improving the quality of early learning and development programs

7. About the RTT-ELC Program
RTT-ELC supports states in building statewide systems; organized around five key reform areas:
Successful State Systems (stakeholder participation and effective governance)
High-Quality Accountable Programs (with common standards aligning Head Start, CCDF, IDEA*, Title I, and state-funded preschools)
Promoting Early Learning and Development Outcomes (through common statewide early childhood standards, comprehensive assessments, health promotion and family engagement)
Supporting an Early Childhood Education Workforce (through PD, career advancement, differentiated compensation, and incentives)

8. RTT-ELC Grantees

9. Children with Disabilities in RTT-ELC
Required “Participating State Agencies” in the RTT-ELC Grants include agencies that administer or supervise the administration of:
CCDF
IDEA Section 619 and Part C
State-funded preschool
Home visiting
Title I of ESEA
Head Start State Collaboration Grant
Other State agencies may be included, such as Child Welfare, Mental Health, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA)
Title V Maternal and Child Care Block Grant
State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care
State’s Child Care Licensing Agency
State Education Agency

10. Children with Disabilities in RTT-ELC
“Children with High Needs” as defined by RTT-ELC include:
children who have disabilities or developmental delays;
who are English learners;
who reside on “Indian lands” as defined by (ESEA);
who are migrant, homeless, or in foster care; and
other children as identified by the State.
RTT-ELC Grantees must:
have an operational State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care that includes State agency coordinators from both IDEA Part B section 619 and Part C, among other members
continue to participate in the programs authorized under IDEA Part B, Section 619 and Part C, and in the CCDF program

11. Preschool Development Grant (PDG) Program
Improving access to high-quality Preschool for all children, including children with disabilities

12. About the Preschool Development Grant (PDG) Program
Preschool Development Grants support states to:
build or enhance their infrastructure to provide high- quality preschool programs, and
expand high-quality preschool programs in high-need communities.
PDG States will serve as models for expanding preschool to all 4-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families.

13. Two Types of Preschool Development Grants:
Development Grants: States that serve less than 10% of four-year- olds and have not received an RTT-ELC grant
Implement and sustain high- quality preschool programs in one or more high-need communities
May use up to 35 percent of funds for infrastructure and quality improvements at the state level
Expansion Grants: States that serve 10% percent or more of four-year-olds or have received an RTT-ELC grant
Implement and sustain high- quality preschool programs in two or more high-need communities. 
Up to 5 percent of the Expansion Grant award may be used for state-level infrastructure and quality improvements.

14. PDG Grantees Expansion Grantees Development Grantees
AR, CT, IL, LA, ME, MD, MA, NJ, NY, RI, TN, VT, VA
Development Grantees
AL, AZ, HI, MT, NV

15. Children with Disabilities in PDG
Program Requirement (a):
Preschool Development Grantees must continue to participate in the IDEA Part C and Part B, Section programs*; Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program; section 418 of the Social Security Act; the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program; and subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Act.

16. Data Collections
What data are being collected and why?

17. Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge Annual Performance Measures
Improving Program Quality
(B)(2)(c): The number and percentage of early learning and development programs participating in the Statewide tiered quality rating and improvement system (TQRIS)
(B)(4)(c)(1): The number and percentage of early learning and development programs in the top tiers of the TQRIS
Improving Access to Quality Programs
(B)(4)(c)(2): The number and percentage of children with high needs enrolled in early learning and development programs in the top tiers of the TQRIS (including programs funded by IDEA, Part B, Section 619 and Part C)

18. RTT-ELC Performance Measure (B)(2)(c): Improving Program Quality
Increasing the Number and Percentage of Programs funded by IDEA Part B, Section 619 and Part C that are Participating in the State’s Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement System (TQRIS)
Part B, Section 619:
Only 10 States* currently can collect and report data on this indicator
45% of 619 programs in these States participate in TQRIS. (Range = 3% to 100%)
3 other States are working on collecting these data
Part C:
Only 3 States currently collect and report data on this indicator
10.7% of Part C programs in these 3 States participate in the TQRIS (range=7% to 12%)
*Note: VT cannot report data on this indicator because they do not fund separate 619 programs. All 619 eligible children attend inclusive publicly funded prekindergarten programs with typically developing peers.

19. RTT-ELC Performance Measure (B)(4)(c)(2): Improving Access to Program Quality for Children with Disabilities
Increasing the Number and Percentage of Children Enrolled in Programs funded by IDEA Part B, 619 and Part C that are in the Top Tiers of the States’ TQRIS
Part B, Section 619:
10 States can report data on this indicator currently
In these States, an average of 15% of children in 619 programs are in programs that are rated in the top tiers of the States’ TQRIS (range= 9.8% to 100%)
Part C:
7 States can report data on this indicator currently (3 others are working on it)
In these States, an average of 27% of children in Part C Programs are in programs in top tiers of the TQRIS (range=8% to 100%)

20. Preschool Development Grants Annual Performance Measures:
Indicators (C): Number and Percent of Eligible Children with Disabilities Served in the High-Quality Preschool Programs
Target: 6.4% of all preschool children in high-quality programs should be eligible children with disabilities

21. IDEA SPP/APR Indicator 6 Measurement:
Percent of children aged with IEPs attending a regular early childhood program and receiving the majority of special education and related services in the regular early childhood program.
Percent of children aged with IEPs attending a separate special education class, separate school or residential facility.

22. OSEP Indicator 6 Data Nationally
Percent of children (aged 3-5 with IEPs) who are:
2014/5 data: National Average = 26% States range from 2% to 56%
2014/5 data: National Average = 46% States range from 20% to 86%

23. OSEP Indicator 6 Data by State
U.S. Average = 42.9%

24. What are these data telling us?
RTT-ELC data indicator is looking at: Number of Children in IDEA-funded Programs that are in TQRIS Top Tiers Number of Children in IDEA-funded Programs in the State PDG data indicator is looking at: Number of Children with Disabilities in High-quality Preschools Number of All Children in those High-quality Preschools OSEP Indicator 6 is looking at: Number of Children with Disabilities Served in Inclusive Settings Number of All Children with Disabilities in the State

25. Lessons Learned from RTT-ELC and PDG States
Not everything that can be counted counts; and not everything that counts can be counted.
- William Bruce Cameron, 1963

26. What Data Issues and Exceptions Have We Found?
Some States report issues with collecting or sharing data due to confusion or misunderstandings about FERPA/HIPPA requirements
Some State data systems are not adequate to disaggregate data in order to report certain indicators
States are not always confident in their data collections so might choose to report no data than “bad” data
Data may be duplicated across types of programs so States may not be confident in the reliability of the data
Some TQRIS data systems are built for licensed programs and IDEA programs may not be within the QRIS licensing system.

27. Data Issues (continued)
Data reporting processes may not be documented sufficiently to ensure similar reporting across years.
The first year of a new data collection takes time to smooth out the collection and reporting requirements
Collecting new information is time consuming and requires ownership and effort
Some data collection systems are not automated (still paper and pencil collections in some locales)
Need to define and agree upon common data elements to ensure everyone is collecting the same information
Not everyone “reads” the same data question in the same way!

28. Examples from RTT-ELC States
Vermont
Implementing professional development strategies for improving inclusive practices.
Set up Early Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Inclusion Goals

29. Examples from RTT-ELC States
Pennsylvania
Strong history of collaboration between State early learning programs and IDEA, Part C and 619 programs
Office of Child Development and Early Learning has developed inclusion guidelines for all early childhood programs
Established inclusion performance grants to increase access and quality
To learn more, see: fileId=10106

30. Examples from RTT-ELC States
Illinois
ExceleRate (Illinois’s TQRIS) includes 4 tiers and a fifth level called Beyond GOLD that provides Awards of Excellence in five specialty areas. One specialty area is Inclusion of Children with Special Needs
Any Gold level program in the TQRIS that serves children with special needs is eligible to work toward the Award of Excellence in Inclusion
Programs that apply for Awards of Excellence must go beyond what other high-quality programs already do and set standards and guidelines for inclusion among other requirements
Established a Head Start data collaborative project that will align internal systems to the Illinois longitudinal data system
Established an Interagency Project Team on Data and Outcomes to bring together essential data elements, address interoperability and generate information that meets privacy laws
Future work includes matching data from the preschool data system, the subsidy system, IDEA B and C, and home visiting

31. Examples from RTT-ELC States
Georgia
Using data to inform policy decisions
Established a strong data governance structure
Defined their data elements, including data elements for Part C and Part B, Section 619
Future work will involve incorporating IDEA Part C and B, data into their Data management system to get unduplicated counts of children and monitor transfers from Part C services to Section 619

32. Additional Examples from RTT-ELC States
17 RTT-ELC States are using RTT-ELC funds to enhance their data systems
North Carolina, Illinois and Kentucky are working to integrate Head Start data into their early childhood data systems
Minnesota has been engaging stakeholders in understanding their data collections and uses
Ohio has developed a Child Link data system with unique student identifiers that allow them to follow any child attending an early learning and development program funded with public funds, including Part C and Part B, 619.

33. Examples from PDG States
Arizona
Created a statewide community of practice to support inclusion, using principles and recommendations of the Federal Inclusion Position Statement
Offering inclusion coaching to community based programs to support comprehensive services for children with disabilities as part of “Quality First” (QRIS)
Partnering with Higher Education Institutions to:
Ensure faculty have knowledge and resources on inclusion in their curriculum
Provide stipends to students to increase providers who are trained to work with children with disabilities

34. Examples from PDG States
Nevada
Hosted the first Statewide Conference on Inclusion in 2015.
Bringing teams together to celebrate successes, address challenges and develop to unique district plans.
Using the Preschool Inclusion Toolkit as part of their Communities of Practice Preschool-Inclusion-Toolbox-P834.aspx
Developing a vision/mission statement and interagency policy guidance on inclusion.
Will be among the cohort of ECTA states to receive intensive technical assistance to support inclusion.

35. Additional Examples from PDG States
Rhode Island is using a lottery system to ensure that children with disabilities have access to the programs that they would have attended in their communities if they had not had a disability.
Maine is making connections by requiring memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between regional Child Development Services sites and subgrantees.

36. What can you take away from any of these lessons?

37. Resources to Support Inclusion

38. National Initiatives and Opportunities to Support Inclusion
Federal Public Awareness Campaign with a Joint Policy Statement on Inclusion
DEC Recommended Practices and Special Initiative on Inclusion
Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge Grants
Preschool Development Grants
Communities of Practice to Support Inclusion
NECTAC/ECO/WRRC 2012

39. Joint Federal Policy Statement
full-text.pdf

40. Joint Federal Policy Statement September 14, 2015
Purpose: To set a vision and provide recommendations for increasing the inclusion of infants, toddlers, and preschool children with disabilities in high-quality early childhood programs. “All young children with disabilities should have access to inclusive high-quality early childhood programs, where they are provided with individualized and appropriate support in meeting high expectations.”

41. Data Resources Privacy Technical Assistance Center SLDS TA Program

42. Inclusion-Related Web Pages

43. Contact Us: Beth Caron Rebecca Valenchis ELC TA, AEM Corporation
Rebecca Valenchis
ELC TA and PDG TA, AEM Corporation