What Does the Research Say?
Helping families access high-quality early childhood options requires knowing where children are, what services they’re receiving, and whether those services are working—yet in many places, that information is difficult to access. Compared to K-12, early childhood programs are funded and regulated through a far more complex web of overlapping federal, state, and local programs, making data more challenging to link. Stronger data systems—including dashboards, integrated data systems, and longitudinal systems—can help policymakers use limited resources more strategically, give advocates local evidence, and give communities a clearer picture of strengths and gaps.
Kansas’s Early Childhood Data Trust
Early childhood programs and services were scattered across multiple state agencies in Kansas, making it hard to answer basic questions. Data either didn’t exist or lived in separate agency systems that couldn’t talk to each other. The Kansas Children’s Cabinet and the University of Kansas’s Center for Public Partnerships and Research (CPPR) partnered to build the Kansas Data Trust—a formal data-sharing framework enabling authorized projects across state agencies, with each agency retaining ownership of its own data. They built on Data Application and Integration Solutions for the Early Years (DAISEY), a system CPPR had created to track children served by early childhood programs; funding came from a Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five.
How Leaders Made It Happen
Put governance first. Previous efforts to link data across agencies had stalled because the structure to hold them together wasn’t in place. This time, before building anything technical, leaders created a legal agreement that established conditions for data sharing, a governance board, and a process for carrying out authorized projects. Getting five agencies to sign took a year and a half. But as one leader reflected, “It was going to be the thing that was going to hold this together, no matter what administration might come next.”1 The agreement also had to navigate legislative concerns about government tracking of children—a political undercurrent that shaped what was possible.
Combined political savvy with technical expertise. The partnership between CPPR’s Teri Garstka, who led the Data Trust design from 2018 to 2023, and Melissa Rooker, executive director of the Children’s Cabinet, was central. Garstka brought deep technical and systems knowledge; Rooker brought legislative experience and the authority to lead state agency directors toward making data a shared priority. As Garstka put it: “It wouldn’t have happened without the both of us.”2
Invested in soft infrastructure. Garstka developed the concept of “soft infrastructure”—the human capacity that bridges the technical and relational dimensions of systems. This means having people who can understand data and technology yet also navigate agency dynamics, build trust, and translate findings across audiences. Soft infrastructure, she said, is “the grease that makes the wheels run.”3
Started with a high-value proof of concept. Rather than build everything at once, leaders began with a high-value question: Does participation in early childhood services reduce child welfare involvement? The results were striking—children who received early childhood services were 23 percent less likely to be removed from their homes. “It was Kansas data,” Garstka reflected, “so that mattered to people.”4
Planned for the long game. Garstka described the work in three phases: the sprint—running hard when a window opens; the marathon—sustaining the work over time; and the relay—ensuring knowledge and momentum can be passed on. “If you are planning for all of those phases—the sprint, the marathon, and the relay—that should infuse all of your design work, because you never know what disruptions are going to happen.”5