The Early Childhood Data Portal is a tool for policymakers and early childhood partners to access high-quality, up-to-date data on Vermont’s children, families, and early childhood system visualized in a straightforward way, with the ability to download full datasets for additional analysis.
What?
The dashboard contains indicators across all sectors that impact children and families: basic needs, child care, child development, demographics, economics, education, housing, mental health, physical health, resilience, prekindergarten education, and workforce. Indicators have been selected for their conceptual relevance and importance to the well-being of children, families, and the early childhood system. While the dashboard prioritizes data for children from the prenatal period to age 8, limitations in data availability may mean that some indicators have a more limited or wider focus extending into middle childhood and adolescence. The dashboard puts data in context by analyzing trends over time, providing a snapshot of the most up-to-date data, comparing Vermont to the U.S., and highlighting disparities and inequities. Indicators reflect both population-level outcomes and more specific programmatic indicators.
Stand-alone pages for each indicator are linked through the chart title on the data portal or through the search function. Each page includes a narrative, chart description, and data source, as well as potential limitations and data notes.
Why?
Access to high-quality, up-to-date data allows us to respond more efficiently and effectively to the needs of children and families statewide and monitor how policies and programmatic investments and decisions impact short- and long-term outcomes. Consistently reviewing data also allows the entire system (policymakers, agency leadership, community partners, and families) to identify where there are gaps in the system, where duplication exists, how resources are (or are not) successful in impacting outcomes, what to prioritize, and how to evaluate progress on existing initiatives. Viewing data across sectors also serves as a reminder of the linkages and interactions between and among early childhood programs, services, and resources, allowing us to coordinate data priorities. Finally, providing publicly accessible early childhood data in one centralized place allows us to know, across sectors, whether we’re making a difference in the lives of children and families.
As Vermont’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council, Building Bright Futures is committed to using and producing the most up-to-date, high-quality data to inform decision-making. Building Bright Futures serves a critical role in Vermont, operating as a broker of data and information to guide policy decisions and strategy related to children, families, and the early childhood system.
Where does the data come from?
Indicators are ever-evolving and compiled through partnership with state agencies and direct service providers in Vermont, alongside indicators from national datasets to understand the drivers of well-being and the impact of relevant programs and policies. The following entities have contributed data and/or advisement on indicators: Vermont Afterschool, the Vermont Agency of Education, the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, the Vermont Blueprint for Health, Vermont Care Partners, Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, the Vermont Department for Children and Families (Child Development Division, Economic Services Division, Family Services Division, and Office of Economic Opportunity), the Vermont Department of Health, the Vermont Department of Labor, the Vermont Department of Mental Health, the Department of Vermont Health Access, Help Me Grow Vermont, Hunger Free Vermont, Vermont Kin as Parents, Let’s Grow Kids, the Vermont Network Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, the Vermont Office of Racial Equity, the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP), the Vermont Parent Child Center Network, and the Public Assets Institute. Contributions and sources are named on each indicator page.
Contact
For further information, please contact data@buildingbrightfutures.org.