Robust real time bidirectional exchange

Data sharing allows education and child welfare agencies to intervene and support individual students in real-time. These students are often highly mobile and need the coordinated help of both agencies. With access to regularly updated student-level data, child welfare and education staff can recognize when students are at risk of being left back or off track for graduation; can facilitate timely enrollment and smooth transitions/credit transfers between schools; identify the student’s educational decision-maker and collaboratively address the educational  and special educational needs of students, including attendance and discipline issues—all of which can promote student engagement and support students’ plans for high school graduation and beyond. Aggregate data sharing can also help make the case for targeted/increased resources, staffing and funding; identify systemic problems; track the progress of interventions over time and improve service delivery; increase accountability; and guide cross-system collaboration.