Implement a coherent student database linking education, child welfare, mental health, and judicial systems rather than further studying data sharing¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The experts' recommendation on data sharing is action rather than study: "We don't need further study about data sharing, we just need to do it." They called for implementing "a coherent student database that links with all the other systems" affecting the lives of children and youth in foster care, because misplaced, delayed, inaccessible, and incomplete records can compromise teaching and learning.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Cross-system information sharing must overcome legal status, confidentiality requirements, and incompatible information-management systems

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• children and youth in foster care in K-12 and early education settings

Target Learning Goals¶

• continuity of instruction and appropriate educational supports through reliable cross-system records

Related Strategies¶

• Use linked cross-system data to target programs such as dropout prevention and postsecondary preparation for students in foster care
• Broker a formal data-sharing agreement between child welfare and education agencies to identify and serve students in foster care
• Develop data-sharing memoranda of understanding and shared evaluation across child- and family-serving agencies
• Link education and child welfare data systems to make the foster care achievement gap visible and trackable

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (Henderson, J., Gaston, M., Kingsley, J., Lezin, N., Siri, D.). (2010). Grappling with the Gaps: Toward a Research Agenda to Meet the Educational Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care. The Stuart Foundation. www.cftl.org. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED509733