Welcome to IDIO 2024 Encore – A Virtual Event

We invite you to join DaSy for the IDIO 2024 Encore, a virtual event to connect, learn from other states, network with peers, and hear the keynotes and some concurrent and DaSyTalk presentations from IDIO 2024. This event is a virtual extension of the Improving Data, Improving Outcomes (IDIO) 2024 Conference: Leading for Positive Impact held in New Orleans, LA. in August 2024.

Intended Audience

The IDIO Encore is designed for IDEA Part C and Part B Section 619 Coordinators, IDEA Part C and B Data Managers, parent leaders, and others working to improve state capacity for data systems, programs, and practices, and ultimately improve outcomes for young children with disabilities and their families. IDIO 2024 Encore will be a REPEAT of a small number of selected sessions from the IDIO 2024 Conference in August 2024. IDIO Encore is intended for those professionals who were not able to attend in person or those professionals who attended but, were not able to attend the sessions at the IDIO 2024 in- person Conference that are offered on the IDIO 2024 Encore agenda. IDIO 2024 Encore is a virtual professional development opportunity.

Intended Outcomes

Participants of the IDIO 2024 Encore will increase their knowledge and skills to:

• Improve state capacity to collect, analyze, report, and use high- quality IDEA Part C early intervention and Part B preschool data, including child and family outcomes.
• Enhance, streamline, and integrate early childhood data systems to address critical policy and practice questions that will facilitate program improvement and improve compliance accountability and outcomes for young children with disabilities and their families.
• Use national resources and other states’ experiences and resources to build organizational capacity and support the implementation of evidence-based practices.

Types of Sessions

IDIO 2024 Encore will include a combination of sessions from the IDIO 2024 Conference including the opening and closing plenaries, concurrent sessions, and DaSyTalks that will be offered virtually.

IDIO 2024 Encore Timeline

December 2024 through March 2025 – 90 minute and two-hour virtual sessions each month.

Agenda

Session 1 Opening Plenary Keynote: Exclusionary Discipline and Disparities in Young Children with Walter S. Gilliam, Executive Director, Buffett Early Childhood Institute, University of Nebraska

December 17, 2024 from 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. PT
Recorded plenary session keynote with interactive activities.

Young children are expelled and suspended from early childhood settings at alarming rates that far exceed those in K–12, beginning even in infant-toddler programs. Exclusionary discipline, especially at a young age, is damaging to children’s educational and lifelong success and can have negative multigenerational impact. Significant disparities have been long documented in the practice of exclusionary discipline, leading to disproportionate negative impact. Also, rates vary widely across setting types. Fortunately, there are interventions that can reduce or prevent early childhood exclusionary discipline. However, one of the greatest challenges is measuring the rate of exclusionary discipline itself because the practice is often informal and rarely recorded accurately. In this keynote session, Dr. Gilliam will highlight the need for greater integration of data across settings (e.g., childcare, schools, Head Start, IDEA Part C and Part B preschool programs), as well as the need for more information on infants and toddlers and children with disabilities.

• Intended Audience – Part C Coordinator, Part C Data Manager, Part B 619 Coordinator, Part B Data Manager, Family Member/Family Organization, PD/TA Provider
• Age Focus – Birth to five

Register for Session 1 on December 17, 2024

Session 2 Concurrent session – Data Beyond IDEA: What Our Partners Know That You Should, Too – Howard Morrison and Sharon Walsh, DaSy

January 21, 2025 from 2:00–4:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. PT

The early childhood system is broad and deep. Knowing more about where and how families and children are engaged — which programs and when — can support IDEA Part C and Part B programs’ efforts to improve access and inclusion along with child and family outcomes. Programs such as Head Start, child care, and early hearing detection and intervention have data that are useful to IDEA programs, yet gaining access to these data takes time that many state staff simply do not have. DaSy wants to help! Join this session to learn about the multitude of resources available, data sources to guide state-level decision-making, reports to inform current or future goals and outcomes, and organizations to support engagement in the broader ecosystem. Presenters will display a typical dataset and discuss how to access and use the data. They will share a new resource for states that outlines what data and reports are publicly available and gather participants’ input into how it might become even more useful.

• Intended Audience – Part C Coordinator, Part C Data Manager, Part B 619 Coordinator, Part B Data Manager, Family Member/Family Organization, PD/TA Provider
• Age Focus – Birth to five

DaSyTalk – Unlock the Potential: Empowering Early Childhood Programs by Leveraging Existing Data Systems – Ryan Guzman, Washington

Join Washington State’s Part B 619 Coordinator as she shares the steps Washington took to increase their B6 (a) LRE data from 21% to 33.2% within 3 years of targeted technical assistance. In this DaSyTalk, participants will learn how Washington constructed the Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) Coaching and Training Network, leveraging existing external coaches from across the state, while also creating the ECSE Inclusion Champions Network for local school leaders. Participants will also have the opportunity to view Washington’s various data visualization tools offered to local, regional, and state teams to generate pathways for large-scale systems change.

• Intended Audience – Part B 619 Coordinator, Part B Data Manager, Family Member/Family Organization
• Age Focus – Three to five

Register for Session 2 on January 21, 2025

Session 3: Concurrent session – Engaging Communities in Analyzing Data for Child Find System Improvements – Margaret Gillis and Mary Lee Porterfield, DaSy

February 25, 2025 from 2:00–4:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. PT

Effective child find systems rely on strong partnerships between Part C and a broad array of agencies, organizations, and individuals that serve children and families to ensure all children who are potentially eligible are identified, referred, evaluated, and enrolled in early intervention. These key partners and families have important perspectives that can shed light on what is and is not working within the child find system and contribute to plans for improvements. In this session, presenters will discuss strategies for bringing key community partners and families together to examine available data and use technical assistance resources to assess the child find system. Presenters will demonstrate data analyses and engagement strategies that can be used to facilitate discussions.

• Intended Audience – Part C Coordinator, Family Member/Family Organization
• Age Focus – Birth to three

DaSyTalk – Using Technology to Collect and Track Data and Support Child Find – Rebecca Smith, Connecticut

More and more people are accessing information through their smartphones or web-based services, and child development and access to screenings are no different. Two years ago, Connecticut became the first in the nation to provide families with such access through a child development app called Sparkler. This app has allowed the state to track trends and data with regards to parent engagement, child development, and screenings and referrals within the Connecticut Early Childhood System. Mobile access has connected families with child development information at their fingertips and provided them with strategies and suggestions, based on evidence-based practices, to support their children’s development through everyday routines and activities. Families can complete the Ages and Stages Questionnaire at their leisure and receive information on how their child is doing, as well as connect to other child development services offered in the state.

• Intended Audience – Part C Coordinator, Part C Data Manager, Part B 619 Coordinator, Part B Data Manager, Family Member/Family Organization, PD/TA Provider
• Age Focus – Birth to five

Register for Session 3 on February 25, 2025

Session 4 Closing Plenary Keynote – Prioritizing Possibilities for Child and Family Well-Being: Building Relational Systems of Care to Take Child Flourishing to Scale – Christina Bethell, Professor, Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University

March 18, 2025 from 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. PT
Recorded plenary session with interactive activities.

Early intervention and early childhood special education programs play a critical role in promoting the healthy development of children right from the start. Doing so requires translation of the science pointing to the need to address the health of the whole child and family and proactive promotion of positive childhood experiences (PCEs). In this keynote session, Dr. Bethell will discuss new data and research on child flourishing, school readiness, PCEs, and system performance and will review key opportunities and approaches to foster collaboration across early childhood systems that catalyze greater family engagement and improvements in screening and outcomes for young children and families. Dr. Bethell will also summarize resources from the Engagement In Action (EnAct!) approach to advance efforts to build on existing state strengths, data, and evidence-based tools to implement the DaSy Framework and optimize the impact of early intervention and early childhood special education programs in the larger early childhood system ecosystem, so all children and their families—and the professionals who serve and support them–thrive!

• Intended Audience – Part C Coordinator, Part C Data Manager, Part B 619 Coordinator, Part B Data Manager, Family Member/Family Organization, PD/TA Provider
• Age Focus – Birth to five

Register for Session 4 on March 18, 2025