This is the second blog in a six part blog series on Children’s Cabinets and integrated supports and services for children.
By Jacob Deitz and Chiara Parisi
If a comprehensive system of integrated supports and services for children is the goal, data must be a crucial component of that system. A common set of indicators and measures among education and welfare agencies improves the coordination of services by helping educators and service providers gain a full understanding of the needs of each child. Data provides decision makers with the necessary information to allocate resources, identify areas in need of intervention, and close equity gaps. Well-aligned data systems also help communities track progress--or lack thereof--over time and adapt strategies as needed.
Yet, aligned data systems are far from the norm. To begin with, gaps in data persist for large segments of the population because public data is only collected for the children able to access agency services in the first place. In other words, the inability of many children in need to access services also means we are left to guess at the full extent of need across various populations. Agencies and service providers also frequently lack shared goals, indicators, and a common vocabulary for interpreting data. Merging data across systems is complicated by differences in data sets, defined populations, and software. And complex regulatory hurdles for sharing data prevent fluidity of information, even across public agencies that are willing to share.
As policy and practice coordinating bodies that bring together various child serving agencies, Children’s Cabinets are being used throughout the country to address the lack of alignment in services for children. They promise to increase access to services by improving the alignment of public data, people, evidence, and money. Today we will focus on the way Children’s Cabinets in two states - Kansas and Maryland - align data from various child-serving agencies and put that data to use. The Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund (KCCTF) and Maryland Children’s Cabinet have put data systems in place that allow them to identify common goals, align resources, and close gaps, all while avoiding duplication and fragmentation.
Kansas has a wealth of early childhood data and has developed innovative approaches to collecting and aligning data from across the state. In 2021, the KCCTF enacted the Early Childhood Data Trust to support the ethical sharing of data among four state agencies: the Kansas Children’s Cabinet, Kansas Department for Children and Families, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and Kansas State Department of Education. The Early Childhood Data Trust enables, at a systems level, analyses of the short, medium, and long-term impacts of services for children and families. Over time, information gathered through the Data Trust will improve measures of program effectiveness, increase equitable access to services for all Kansans, and allow for transparency between typically siloed state agencies.
Kansas organized state employees from different departments under one aligned data system by developing and articulating a clear strategic plan for the implementation of a data sharing system. A legal and ethical framework sets in place procedures for governance that streamline the creation of shared templates and common language, while balancing the need for data safety, security, and confidentiality. The data governance process explains the critical role of board members and outlines procedures for meetings and decision making. The data governance board meets regularly to identify best practices and tools for improving data use and literacy. This has enabled government agencies in Kansas to glean deeper and more comprehensive insights into the needs and experiences of families in the state.
The Maryland Children’s Cabinet, which includes ten different state agencies, also has a sophisticated data collection and alignment system in place. For nearly 20 years, Maryland has utilized the Results-Based Accountability framework to focus planning, decision-making, and budgeting. Through a collective process, the Maryland Children’s Cabinet identified eight “Results” and forty corresponding “Indicators” in an effort to consolidate data from multiple agencies and improve the general well-being of children.
The “Results” are big picture long-term goals, including healthy children, families having economic stability, and youth completing school. The corresponding “Indicators” are measures that help quantify progress towards achieving those goals and include measures like low birth weight, health insurance coverage, graduation rates, and youth employment rates. The “Indicators” are collected by all twenty-four counties in the state and are tracked through the Child Well-Being Scorecard, a publicly available web-based application.
Together, these “Results” and “Indicators” are intended to drive shared decision making about policies, programs, and investments within individual agencies and collectively through the Children’s Cabinet. Thoughtful consideration of public data reveals gaps in services, strengths that can be built on, and opportunities for deeper collaboration.
Kansas and Maryland are taking careful steps to integrate data systems and increase the collective impact of public service agencies across their states. They have developed models that are conceivably replicable and should be studied by states looking to do similar work. These kinds of more closely integrated data systems are a necessary step in realizing the ideal of an education system that recognizes the needs of the whole child.