Colorado § 26.5-1-111 - Data system - collection - analysis - cross-agency agreements.

§ 26.5-1-111. Data system - collection - analysis - cross-agency agreements.

(1) The department shall work with early childhood councils, state agencies, local and tribal agencies, and providers, as necessary, to collect, share, manage, and protect qualitative and quantitative data pertaining to early childhood and family support programs and services. The department shall review and analyze the collected data to assess:

(a) The needs of children and families for early childhood and family support programs;

(b) The local and statewide availability, capacity, use, and quality of, and funding support for, early childhood and family support programs and services;

(c) The degree to which the department and local and tribal agencies are reducing inequities in access to and use of early childhood and family support programs and services and in childhood outcomes;

(d) The capacity, quality, training, education, employment status, and retention of and compensation provided to members of the workforce that serves early care and education, early childhood programs and services, and family support programs and services;

(e) Long-term outcomes for children served by early childhood and family support programs and services, including correlations to school readiness as assessed pursuant to section 22-7-1004 (2), to academic success in third grade, and to high school graduation; and

(f) Other measures that indicate the effectiveness of the early childhood and family support programs and services in Colorado in serving and supporting children, families, providers, and the early childhood workforce.

(2) At a minimum, the department shall collect data pertaining to early childhood and family support programs and services that includes:

(a) The number of children in the state who are eligible to receive, and the number of children who actually receive, services through the programs administered by the department; the demographics of said children, including socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, and disability; and said children's eligibility for funding and use of early childhood and family support programs and services;

(b) Information concerning groups of children who have historically encountered barriers to school readiness;

(c) Information that enables the department, early childhood councils, and local and tribal agencies to assess on a continuing basis the needs for early childhood and family support programs and services in an area and make decisions concerning the provision of programs and services;

(d) The demand for early childhood and family support programs and services and the existence of providers in areas throughout the state, including information concerning program capacity, such as the number of available classrooms; the local and statewide availability of locally, state-, and federally funded enrollment positions and vacancies in those positions; and the number of hours of services received by individual children and parents in programs;

(e) The number of early childhood programs at each quality level statewide and in specific areas and the number and demographics of children served in early childhood programs at each quality level;

(f) Data regarding the early childhood workforce; and

(g) The combination and coordination of local, state, and federal funding for children and families to provide early childhood and family support programs and services and the programs and services that are provided, including use of more than one program or service by a single family.

(3) (a) The departments of early childhood, human services, education, public health and environment, and health care policy and financing shall enter into agreements to ensure data privacy and security with regard to shared early childhood data. In collecting and sharing data, the departments shall coordinate and require collection of data in ways that impose the least possible burden on families and providers, including by reducing redundancies in data collection across programs.

(b) The department shall use information derived through the early childhood data system to, at a minimum, inform planning, leverage resource allocations, maximize children's access to early childhood programs and services, and support data-informed decision-making.

(c) The department shall identify and pursue research opportunities to provide information to support new measures for improving the system of early childhood and family support programs and services in the state and to understand the causal effects of early childhood and family support programs and services that are provided.

(3.5) The department shall contribute education and workforce readiness data beginning in the 2025-26 state fiscal year, as necessary, to the Colorado statewide longitudinal data system consistent with the governance practices established by the Colorado statewide longitudinal data system governing board pursuant to section 24-37.5-125 (4).

(4) The department, through the department website, shall regularly inform members of the early childhood community and other members of the public of progress made in improving the delivery, quality, access, availability, and capacity of early childhood programs and services. Specifically, the department shall provide information concerning the achievement of benchmarks in such areas as increasing the number of children receiving early childhood programs and services, improving preschool classroom quality, meeting program quality standards, and improving school readiness, and shall provide information concerning the results of preschool program evaluations completed pursuant to section 26.5-4-207.

Source: L. 2022: Entire section added, (HB 22-1295), ch. 123, p. 578, § 2, effective April 25. L. 2024: (3.5) added, (HB 24-1364), ch. 238, p. 1562, § 17, effective May 23. L. 2026: IP(1) and (2)(c) amended, (SB 26-019), ch. 104, p. 423, § 13, effective May 5.