Will it Ever Be the Same?
Managing ECIDS Through Change

By Phil Sirinides and Missy Coffey

Effective early childhood integrated data systems (ECIDS) must be designed and managed with purpose. Yet we know, after years of experience, that strong data systems must also be resilient to change. This might seem to be a strange choice of words, as “resilience” isn’t readily thought of as an organizational priority. But as most ECIDS leads and project teams know by now, change is all too often the standard operating condition.

Abrupt staffing or leadership changes, stop-start or piecemeal funding, technology modernization, shifting state priorities – many kinds of change are natural in public administration, and can impact the management of an ECIDS. Over the years, however, state administrators have learned to successfully plan, implement, and maintain an ECIDS by using the following strategies to manage various changes:

Managing ECIDS Staffing Changes

The ECIDS should not rest on the shoulder of any one individual, but on a project team. This team should consist of staff with clear roles, and members who are positioned across all partnering state agencies. A shared leadership model is often the most effective strategy to ease disruption in the wake of planned – or unplanned – staffing changes.

Anita Larson, director of Research, Planning and Evaluation and former ECIDS lead for the Minnesota Department of Education, said building that sense of shared ownership can be a long, challenging process, but persistence ultimately pays off.

Staffing change is not a matter of if, but when. By prioritizing shared leadership, by building a diverse and invested team and by building and maintaining continuity, organizations can mitigate disruption even as valued leaders transition to other work and new ECIDS leaders step into the role.

Managing ECIDS Funding Changes

For some states, ECIDS funding is now part of the general budget. That wasn’t always the case, however, and many states have yet to secure stable funding for not only ECIDS, but for early childhood initiatives in general. Fortunately, federal grant opportunities have afforded many states the opportunity to plan, and for some, implement an ECIDS.

Utah has had great success in this area, and in establishing a statewide organizational structure designed to bring more attention – and more funding – to vital projects.

“You need ongoing, sustainable funding,” said Steven Matherly, Health Program Coordinator with the Utah Department of Health.

By leveraging federal and other funding opportunities, and working across departments and across the state to advocate for that funding, ECIDS teams can better respond to – or potentially avoid – disruptive funding changes in the future.

Managing Shifting State Priorities and Their Influence on the ECIDS

An ECIDS is a tool used to provide actionable information to program and policy leaders, but it can’t be a tool unless it is connected to the systems-building initiatives in a state. According to Richard Gonzales, Preschool Development Grant (PDG) project manager for the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, an ECIDS is not simply a data system initiative; it can also play a crucial role in system-building work.

“Strengthening systems involves multiple pieces,” Gonzales said. “So the real core of the work is to improve coordination and collaboration and integration across programs, across service models, across supports networks that are in place, and to create new partnerships.”

By building strong systems and diverse networks of stakeholders, by establishing a shared vision and focusing on more substantial, long-term goals – rather than shorter-term, siloed efforts – stakeholders can more easily weather disruptions when state priorities change.

You’ve heard it before: “Design a system that is sustainable.” But we’ve learned over the last decade that an ECIDS also needs to be agile. It needs to change alongside our users and their information needs, which, as this year has shown us, can shift dramatically and rapidly with little warning. A well-implemented integrated data system can provide valuable resiliency and support effective, responsive decision making in times of transition.

Hear from Larson, Matherly, Gonzales and more on our latest podcast, “Building ECIDS Capacity to Adapt and Succeed Through Changing Conditions.”

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Phil Sirinides and Missy Coffey are the principal investigators for ECDataWorks, a nationwide, nonprofit initiative dedicated to advancing early childhood policy and programs through the strategic use of integrated data.