Using Data to Promote Collaboration in Local School Readiness Systems

This brief reviews results of an Annie E. Casey Foundation sponsored project that challenged local data intermediaries in eight cities (all partners in the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, NNIP) to use their data to promote strengthening of their local school readiness systems. The project showed it was possible to develop rich neighborhood level information on factors affecting early childhood development in all cities and that the effective presentation of such information in reports and public forums did help build momentum for coherence in school readiness initiatives. Particularly valuable were data showing the spatial concentration of early childhood risks in low-income neighborhoods.