By sharing information, an Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) can answer key questions that help parents, teachers, providers and decision-makers be better equipped to support child well-being.
ECIDS creates secure, linked data across various early childhood programs to inform what's going on in Oklahoma’s early childhood system. In partnership with the Oklahoma Health and Human Services Cabinet and the Oklahoma State Department of Education, OPSR led efforts to design and implement ECIDS.
In FY18, OPSR partnered with national experts Elliot Regenstein and Jonathan Furr to gain insight as to the next steps Oklahoma should take to further the development of ECIDS. On July 24, Regenstein and Furr then presented their findings to a group of Oklahoma’s key stakeholders.
Regenstein is a partner at Foresight Law + Policy with extensive knowledge on state level policy, governance and data systems. Furr is the founder and executive director of Educations Systems Center and is actively engaged in state and national education policy.
Thank you to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the George Kaiser Family Foundation for their funding that made these early steps possible.
In FY19, OPSR received the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five, known as OKFutures, from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education (administered by the Administration for Children and Families) and have continued working on ECIDS.
To maximize this opportunity, OPSR worked with Third Sector Intelligence to build upon Oklahoma's early steps on ECIDS. By looking at the OKFutures Needs Assessment, ECIDS can help increase alignment and quality in order to better meet existing needs of Oklahoma's most vulnerable and underserved families.
To see full details on ECIDS' progress via OKFutures, click here. To see an overview of the OKFutures grant, click here.
These reports outline next steps and a plan to help Oklahoma implement ECIDS by including an overview of the system's potential uses, the data and capacity needed for such as system and a governance framework.
OPSR utilizes' Early Childhood Data Collaborative resources to help explain the purpose and goals of an Early Childhood Integrated Data System to families, providers and decision-makers.
This graphic offers insight into how sharing early childhood information across programs can support children’s development.
Click here to download this resource.
This graphic offers insight into how integrated data supports child well-being by answering key questions from various stakeholders. For example, families could get answers to the question "How well is my child learning?" while child care providers could get answers to the question "Does my staff's characteristics and credentials match the needs of our children?"