Results, results, results

Today's post is brought to you by Maureen Casey, and represent her thoughts, they do not necessarily represent those of EIFA.  We are sharing them as a way to begin a conversation about the Results Driven Accountability System under consideration by OSEP.

As the parent of one early intervention graduate and a former member of two ICCs, I agree with OSEP that we need to move beyond compliance.  That is to say--we need to continue to insure compliance and collect data that demonstrates compliance--but we need to begin drilling down further to look closely at RESULTS.  But how do we do that with these large state systems?

Current Results Indicators

Indicators 3 and 4 (Child and Family Outcomes) are a beginning.  They help us to see the trajectory of growth and development of children enrolled in early intervention.  Some of the family outcomes data can help to paint a picture of how families are experiencing early intervention.  However, I have to confess I like the NCSEAM approach to family outcomes.  Having spent a lot of time with Batya Elbaum, and learning about the methodological approach to the NCSEAM and then really digging into the data and working with family leaders to think about what the data says and how to use the data for system improvement I like the NCSEAM.  I wonder how many states are using that data, with materials like those developed by Jim Henson at MSRRC to go beyond the indicators?  

Going beyond the numbers

I think about how data doesn't always show the whole picture.  When I hear from families who say that yes, they participated in their child's IFSP meetings but can only identify child outcomes and no family outcomes in their IFSP, despite rich narratives that lend themselves to the development of functional family outcomes.  Or listening to discussions about natural environments which start from the premise that it is either the home or a center, and fail to really connect families of young children with disabilities with the normal and natural activities that other families of young children are involved in.

A word about ICCs

I am glad that OSEP is using their website to expand their reach and to utilize social media to collect comments.  However, ICCs, which are required to meet at least four times a year have a more formal schedule that the ED.gov blog.  Unfortunately, this means that ICCs don't have the opportunity to reflect and respond to the ED.gov blog questions.  I would encourage OSEP to create a special opportunity to engage these important stakeholders who have experience in analyzing both the data and the implementation of the system in their respective states.

What say you?

How do we collect data that show the need for improvement on these very real and important results?   What do you think?  How is your state approaching results?