Overview

This webinar explored strategies for leveraging data to support college and career readiness and success (CCRS) goals for all students, with special emphasis on students in foster care. With access to quality data, education and child welfare agencies can work together to improve educational outcomes and promote CCRS for students in foster care. Presenters discussed a set of emerging practices that serve as examples of how states can use and link data to support CCRS. As states work to fulfill the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), this webinar also aims to provide concrete strategies to leverage the data collection and reporting requirements related to students in foster care to achieve CCRS goals.

Presenter Biographies

Susan Bowles Therriault is a principal researcher at AIR. She has conducted research and provided technical assistance in the field of education policy for over 15 years. Her work focuses on state policy, support for low-performing schools and high school turnaround. Prior to joining AIR, Dr. Therriault conducted and published research on the topics of state systems of support for low-performing schools, school choice, state capacity for education reform and school leadership as well as providing technical assistance to state education agencies and districts as the implement improvement initiatives. She currently serves as a member at-large of the Massachusetts School and District Accountability and Support Advisory Board.

Elizabeth Dabney is the Director for Research and Policy Analysis at the Data Quality Campaign. She leads DQC’s research and policy analysis work in support of the organization’s goal to help ensure success for all students through access to and meaningful use of high-quality data. Elizabeth manages DQC’s efforts to understand states’ progress toward key milestones in the use of data in service of student learning. Elizabeth draws on more than 15 years of experience in education research. Before joining DQC in 2012, she worked at research firms, including Westat in Maryland and Metis Associates in New York. She is a graduate of New York University.

Kristin Kelly joined the ABA Center on Children and the Law in 2006 with a strong interest in child welfare law and policy.  Her work focuses on youth transitioning from foster care, youth empowerment, and the educational needs of children in foster care. She provides training and technical assistance across the country on these topics, and enjoys working with cross-agency teams to identify challenges and implement concrete program and policy changes. She has authored numerous articles and publications, including the education advocacy chapter of the National Association of Counsel for Children’s textbook, Child Welfare Law and Practice. Kristin obtained her J.D. from Indiana University School of Law, and her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Shawna Reid is the Bureau Chief of the Education Data Warehouse and has worked within the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) for 12 years. Prior to working with the FLDOE, she graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Information Technology and now currently manages two distinct data collection areas and a data quality unit within the Office of Technology & Innovation. The data areas consist of the Education Data Warehouse (EDW) and the Florida Education & Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP). Shawna has worked as a primary programmer for both FETPIP and EDW, with programming and data load experience in database extraction, transfer and loading while working for 6 years in both offices respectively.