Tackling Fragmentation Through Unification and Data Systems: A Research-Practice Partnership in Louisiana

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Research to Action: Collaborating With State Education Agencies to Support High-Quality Early Learning (Table 13)

Abstract

Purpose & Perspective
One significant obstacle in providing high-quality early learning experiences equitably in the United States is the existing fragmentation of the early care and education (ECE) system—that is, that families must navigate multiple setting types when looking for ECE for their child, including home- and center-based child care, state and/or local public pre-kindergarten options, and, if eligible, federal Head Start (Markowitz & Bassok, 2024). Various policy efforts have been targeted at streamlining choices for parents in the past decades, but limitations in ECE data systems (Whitebook et al., 2018) have prevented, broadly speaking, our understanding of the implications of such policies, as well as prevented data use to respond to ongoing issues in the ECE sector.

This presentation documents how a research-policy partnership (RPP) between the Louisiana Department of Education and researchers at the Study of Early Education Through Partnerships (SEE-P) facilitated the development of an ECE data system that has both allowed us to answer important descriptive and policy questions, as well as respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlights key next steps for data systems as we seek to understand how to leverage ECE systems to support equitable outcomes for young children at kindergarten entry and beyond.

Method & Data Sources
This presentation will describe how Louisiana developed its administrative data system, and highlight how it allowed them to answer several important questions including.
1. Did ECE quality change over a time of considerable investment in professional learning statewide (Bassok, Magouirk, et al., 2021)?
2. What does ECE teacher stability look like across ECE settings (Bassok, Markowitz, et al., 2021)?
3. What are factors that drive teacher turnover (Markowitz et al., 2024; Markowitz & Bassok, 2022)?
4. How do we support teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic (Hall et al., 2023)?

Data include a first-of-its-kind statewide dataset including teacher identifiers, classroom quality scores, and site factors. It also includes data from a variety of surveys fielded in Jefferson, Rapides, and Orleans parishes from 2018-2022. Response rates for these surveys, sent to all early educators across site types, ranged from 60-80%.

Results & Significance
This narrative highlights how partnership between policymakers and researchers creates possibilities for both creating more effective and responsive ECE policy, as well as sets the stage for answering major ECE system-building questions. Data from this partnership, for example, provided the first evidence of systemwide quality improvement in the wake of policy changes, as well as the first statewide estimates of teacher turnover. It also led to significant workforce investments in the wake of COVID-19, and spurred action in several other states.

This presentation will also focus on important areas for improvement, including better understanding child and family needs, tracking teachers’ training and supports, and building better connections with early education leaders.

Finally, we will discuss features that made the partnership successful, and what the key ingredients are for doing effective RPP work.

Author

• Anna J. Markowitz, University of California - Los Angeles