The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires all states to submit data and reports about children with disabilities who receive special education and related services. These crucial data not only provide information on how states and their districts are complying with the law but also about their progress towards improving services and results for children with disabilities. Given the importance of these data for decisionmaking and program improvement, it is essential that the data states collect, analyze, report, and use are high-quality. That’s where the IDEA Data Center (IDC) comes in. IDC is dedicated to helping states meet their federal obligation to collect, report, analyze, and use high-quality IDEA data to improve the educational outcomes of all children. To achieve this critical mission, IDC provides universal, targeted, and intensive technical assistance services to build states’ capacity for producing accurate, meaningful, and usable data.
Through all the center’s efforts, there is one request IDC repeatedly receives from states: they want to hear from their counterparts in other states. State staff want to know what their colleagues are doing, what is working, and what lessons they have learned. Although every state is unique, they all must meet the same requirements and often have similar needs and challenges.
With this goal in mind, IDC set out to create a platform from where states could share real experiences, feel more connected to colleagues in other states doing the same work, and, ultimately, improve their data quality. The center designed its monthly A Date with Data podcast to spotlight these IDEA state impact stories in a way that delivers valuable insights and practical guidance about IDEA data quality and analysis from the people doing the work. The podcast format was the perfect vehicle to because it presents these stories in an easy-to-consume format, via conversations that include state special education staff from a variety of roles: data teams, directors of special education, Part B data managers, and many others with a data story to share. In its more than 60 episodes, A Date with Data has highlighted the work of 23 states and territories, everywhere from Nebraska to New Hampshire to American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands, sharing an incredible breadth of experience, knowledge, and wisdom from each state and its staff.
The podcast addresses topics gleaned from common requests or questions IDC receives from states as well as current hot topics in the field. For example, one popular topic on the podcast is Differentiated Monitoring and Support (DMS) visits. States that have recently completed their DMS visit have discussed their firsthand experience, how they prepared, and tips they recommend for other states just beginning the process. Other guests have included experienced data managers sharing lessons learned and offering guidance to newcomers to the field and states’ data teams sharing their strategies for improving the collection, analysis, reporting, and use of IDEA data. The following are a few highlights of IDC’s podcast.
Episode 57: Arizona
In Authentic from A to Z: Crafting Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in Arizona, IDC hosts the lead education program specialist from the Arizona Department of Education to learn all about the state’s multi-part approach to building genuine stakeholder relationships around IDEA data. From partnering with their Parent Training Information Center to offering seminars and webinars to creating visualizations and dashboards to support understanding of the data, Arizona discusses many of the opportunities they offer for meaningful stakeholder engagement.
Episode 58: Missouri
In Show Me Improvement: Building LEA Capacity in Missouri, IDC hosts a data research analyst with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to learn about the state’s efforts toward building LEA data quality capacity through improved data literacy and engagement with stakeholders. Some of the strategies they found to be most effective include hosting an annual Special Education Directors Academy, holding office hours for the districts to ask questions and provide updates, and developing resources to help explain the SPP/APR indicators.
Episode 59: Virginia
In Plan Ahead, Perform Powerfully: Developing and Submitting a Successful SPP/APR, IDC hosts the Executive Director of Data Monitoring and General Supervision with the Virginia Department of Education to discuss the state’s strategies for developing and submitting a successful SPP/APR. He shared tips including emphasizing that “preparation is key,” as is cross-office communication and documentation. He also highlighted that meaningful and continuous stakeholder engagement is a critical component of the SPP/APR.
Episode 60: Puerto Rico
In Great PR: Puerto Rico Builds a Rich Data System, IDC hosts representatives of the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) to discuss building a robust data system in a unitary school system with a higher-than-average number students who receive special education services. The team described many of the strengths of their data system, including its integration with other PRDE systems and IDEA Part C, the inclusion of artificial intelligence in assisting the users with different processes, and the timely release of data and infographics to the public.
Since its debut in 2022, states have continually voiced how valuable they find the podcast and other similar types of opportunities to network together, offered by IDC. As one state staff member explained, “one of the most beneficial resources that you guys [IDC] provide is that brokering connection with like staff in other states. Connecting me with my colleagues from across the nation can be so beneficial. Sometimes you feel like you're on an island within your state, but you're really not alone. Other states are wrestling with the same exact issues.”