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October 2017Vol. 18, No. 7Roadmap for Improved Foster Care, Education System Data Sharing

The Legal Center for Foster Care and Education and the Data Quality Campaign have developed recommendations for strengthening the data linkages between the foster care and education systems to improve educational outcomes for students in foster care.

The recommendations identify several key focus areas that need attention to ensure high-quality data linkages between foster care and K-12 education systems, including the following:

  • A shared vision between the child welfare and education agencies
  • Well-delineated roles and responsibilities for each agency (with clear processes and timetables to ensure accountability)
  • Adequate capacity (via structure and staffing) to manage, analyze, and share linked data
  • Identification and data matching to ensure both the secure and sustainable linkage of data
  • Data quality (a system should be developed to ensure that the linked data is accurate and useful)
  • Data analysis, reporting, and use (determine who will have access to the linked data and how it will be used to support student success)
  • Privacy and security to ensure shared data is protected and consistent with federal and state information-sharing law

The roadmap also includes several state examples of how the child welfare and education systems are successfully collaborating and sharing data.
The Legal Center for Foster Care and Education is a project of the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, the Education Law Center, and the Juvenile Law Center. The Data Quality Campaign is a nonprofit organization advocating for quality education data to inform decisions that will help students succeed.

Roadmap for Foster Care and K–12 Data Linkages: Key Focus Areas to Ensure Quality Implementation is available at https://2pido73em67o3eytaq1cp8au-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/DQC-Foster-Care-Roadmap-02282017.pdf (414 KB).