The State of Oklahoma—via the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness (OPSR)—hired 3Si and its partner, Foresight Law & Policy, to develop a plan to build an early childhood integrated data system (ECIDS). The plan includes statewide stakeholder engagement, an overview of the ECIDS potential uses, an inventory of the data needed for the system, a technology and analytics plan to integrate and use these data, and a data governance framework.
The plan leverages cloud technology to help drive down costs and increase flexibility and functionality. Specifically, this plan describes the process of choosing a cloud service provider, cloud data security, data storage and transportation, data management and processing, initial analytics and data products, and data integration roles and responsibilities. The proposed data governance framework is comprehensive and includes processes governing how data is collected, integrated, and reported; interagency decision-making; and adding new agencies in the future. It identifies updates to Oklahoma’s laws and regulations and modifications to existing and new interagency agreements necessary to support the governance framework. It also describes policies for managing and protecting personal information and privacy and security protocols that meet federal and state requirements and ensure data is used for educational purposes only.
With an ECIDS, Oklahoma government will be better equipped to assess, target, and improve specific early childhood program investments and services to meet the needs of Oklahoma children and families. Specifically, population and eligibility data will allow Oklahoma to identify and reach children and families who should be but are not receiving services, and streamline and improve service delivery and effectiveness for those children and families who are receiving services. An ECIDS will also allow stakeholders to evaluate long-term outcomes of early learning, such as school readiness and behavioral and health outcomes.