The Data and Evaluation Committee is working towards Goal 4 of the VECAP: To build an early childhood system that is integrated, well-resourced, and data-informed.The committee is charged with prioritizing the vision for, and progress towards, data integration; creating and monitoring a data development agenda and priorities for Vermont’s early childhood system (prenatal through age 8); serving as the accountability mechanism to monitor progress toward the four goals of the VECAP; and serving as a primary advisor for research, data, and evaluation efforts. The committee executes this charge by convening data stewards, agency leaders, and content and evaluation experts to discuss the strategy, challenges, capacity, and infrastructure in place, or needed, to consistently use evidence and high-quality data to inform policy and programs within Vermont’s early childhood system.
Overall Priorities
Early Childhood Data Development Agenda
Document top data priorities by sector
Review the existing infrastructure available to support this agenda, the next steps for updating each item, and how each partner will coordinate efforts
Continue toward vision of linked and integrated early childhood data
Monitor the early childhood system
Review data dashboard for missing indicators/outcomes that should be in place to contribute toward our understanding of service process, impacts, or outcomes for children and families
Discuss how we as an early childhood system know whether we’re moving in the right direction on each goal, objective, and strategy
Serve as primary advisory body for data initiatives
Communicate Data and Evaluation Committee’s expertise to stakeholders developing data collection initiatives
Identify speakers and experts for Early Childhood Grand Rounds
Dedicate committee time to hearing data and evaluation proposals and providing feedback
Serve as reviewers for works in progress and report
Committee Staffing & Participants:
BBF Staff Support: Research and Data Director, Dora Levinson
Public Partners and Data Stewards
Agency of Education
Data Management and Analysis
Student Support Services – Early Education
Department for Children and Families
Child Development Division
Children’s Integrated Services
Head Start Collaboration Office
Operations Unit
Economic Services Division
Family Services Division
Department of Health
Family and Child Health
Health Statistics and Informatics
Department of Mental Health
Child, Adolescent, and Family Unit
Trauma Prevention and Resilience Development
Department of Vermont Health Access
Office of Racial Equity
Private Partners and Data Stewards
Farm to Early Childhood
First Children’s Finance
Hunger Free Vermont
Let’s Grow Kids
Lund
Parent Child Center Network
United Ways of Vermont
Help Me Grow
Urban Institute
Vermont Association for Education of Young Children (VTAEYC)
Academic Partners & Data Stewards
Community College of Vermont
University of Vermont: Center for Disability and Community Inclusion
University of Vermont: Department of Education
Vermont Child Health Improvement Program (VCHIP)
Other partners who supported State of Vermont’s Children but do not attend/participate in the Data & Evaluation Committee:
Housing & Homelessness Alliance of Vermont
Institute for Community Alliances
Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Living Wage Calculator
Vermont Afterschool
Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems
Vermont Blueprint for Health
Vermont Care Partners
Vermont Department of Labor
Vermont Head Start Association
Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence