Join us on Thursday, December 9th and 11:00 AM EDT for a virtual workshop-style roundtable discussion with other child-serving organizations in various stages of the collaborative process. Everyone will leave with an understanding of the possibility of a collaborative approach and the steps necessary to be ready to implement it.

Your organization and your schools are serving the same children; wouldn't it be great if you could know how the children are doing in school - grades, behavior, attendance, etc. You could collaborate to understand the value of the programs you're providing, including measured improvements, attendance, etc. You could have real-time data that enables your community to understand the difference your organizations are making.

The main purpose of community data sharing is to create a community-wide information system that supports interactions with many service providers to deliver a comprehensive, longitudinal perspective on each child, leveraging data and technology to provide better, faster, and continuously improved services. In Community Data Sharing Initiatives - Community Collaboratives - participants share information regarding the children they serve. It is essential to have a clear definition of how the sharing is managed and authorized and which information is shared. 

The Backbone Organization (Longitudinal Community Database) of the collaborative is the lead partner organization that is responsible for community agreements on data governance and data sharing, an agreed-upon approach to parent consent, collaborative goals, and the associated data set to be shared. This organization is responsible for Data Management Services: the “scoping” of data access for data sharing partners and users, defining the approach to mapping children between organizations, consent administration, and an approach to managing data quality. [e.g. duplicates]

• Legal Data Sharing - Community Agreement
• Organization & User Scoping 
• Child-Organization Mapping
• Consent Administration
• Data Quality

Data Users are partner organizations that are interested in accessing the Data Contributors’ child-related information either in aggregated, de-identified or identifiable format. The leverage the COMET Community Reporter. Commonly, Data Users are also Data Contributors, but not necessarily (e.g.: funding organizations like United Way, County, or City services).

• Aggregated & De-Identified Community Reports & Exports
• Geo-Coded Map Demographics
• Data For Program Evaluators
• Compare Your Organization To The Community
• Identifiable Data Reports & Exports, For Those With Proper Consent

COMET Operations

Data Contributors are partner organizations that directly interact with children and record child-driven information in COMET, or in their own operational database - Pass-thru Data Contributor -- that will be integrated into the data-sharing initiative. Another approach to contributing data is to provide program participation as a Roster Data Contributor through a list of your children (ID, last, first, DOB, gender). Note that contributors "own" the data they contribute in an explicit or implicit agreement of confidentiality [e.g.: Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA)] with each child’s parent.

Data Contributors - Collected In COMET

• Community Organization Running Programs & Providing Support
• Funder Collecting Data From Multiple Service Providers
• School District SEL Program
• City Sending Data (Pass-Thru)

Data Contributors - Collected External To COMET

• Student Information Systems (SIS)
• Community-Based Organizations
• Government & Heath Systems

Parent Portal

Parent / Guardian involvement is key to a data-sharing initiative. COMET’s community data sharing solution supports parent approval of the sharing of their child’s data. Recording and leveraging parent consent is fundamental to a data-sharing initiative. 

• Parents Understand & Control Their Child's Data & Can See Their Child's Information, Including Assessment Results
• They Can Provide Input On Their Child & Communicate With Those Who Work With Them

Community Reporting 

COMET’s community data sharing solution is powered by our sophisticated reporting application - COMET Community Reporter, supporting aggregated and de-identified community reports and exports, geo-coded map demographic visualization, data for program evaluators, community comparison reports, and identifiable data reports and exports. 

• Aggregated reports: Typically, such reports may pull data from multiple Data Contributors and consolidate / aggregate accordingly. These reports are authorized through the data-sharing agreement between the service provider partners. 
• De-identified child-level reports or data extraction: Typically, these reports are used for research purposes. Records are de-identified meaning that they do not contain any data element that could identify a child (e.g.: name, ID, etc). These reports are authorized through data-sharing agreements between the service providers. 
• Identifiable child-level records: It is possible to report on identifiable child data, but this data sharing requires valid parent consent and clear authorization from the Data Contributor.

Only data sharing can enable outcome measurement across organizations. So, if an after-school program and a school want to measure if their collective work has a positive impact on school attendance and academic outcomes, and to determine which programs are effective and to fund, data sharing is essential.

Ideally, every community's child-serving organizations will share data and collaborate to improve common goals; realizing the vision of a comprehensive, longitudinal community database supported through the efforts of Partner Organizations that work together in a Community Data Sharing Initiative in which its children are thriving.

Ready to join a collaborative? Take our readiness quiz.

Community (n): a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

COMET is helping to change communities into true collaborations. For a community collaborative to succeed in their mission, they must be able to share knowledge and learn from each other. And this requires the ability to share their findings/data in a way that is safe and easy. Doesn't sound possible, does it? Until recently, it wasn't. COMET's Data Reporter Platform can accept data across silos, across database software systems to tell the whole story of your community. Current features include graphic visualization, identified and/or de-identified (based on consent), flexibility to create and aggregate groups, export filtered data, and leverage geocoded address data to understand regional trends and more.​​​​​​​

General Features:

• Create reports allowing for customized dashboards with only the information they need and are allowed to see 
• Graphic visualization, identified or de-identified (based on consent), flexibility to create and aggregate groups, export filtered data, and leverage geocoded address data to understand regional trends.
• HIPAA & FERPA compliant 
• Share your dashboard with other users.
• Create a Dashboard Template that allows other users to mimic your dashboard and the reports within it.
• Create custom reporting groups for all of your reporting needs
• Use the Roster Contributor module to add additional reporting groups.
  
  

Reporting Capabilities: By default, all records are associated with a reporting group. A single record can be associated to multiple reporting groups.

• Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Data: With proper consent, organizations will be able to access the records within a reporting group in an identifiable way. You will still be able to run aggregated reports. However, you can "toggle" the underlying data to see who the data relates to, rather than just seeing the value of the data. Additionally, a single-subject report is also available, which outlines all of the milestones of a given student/person over a period of time. Different data elements can be toggled on or off, depending on what information is desired.
• Aggregated, De-Identified Data: In some cases, identifiable data isn't required or approved for specific users with access to the data. For these cases, the Community Data Reporter also allows for an aggregated, de-identified view of the data. Rather than seeing the names of who the records associate to, names and PII data will be redacted
• Geocoding: COMET will convert the addresses of the records in the database to X and Y coordinates that can then be displayed on a map.
• Exporting Capabilities: Data can be exported in Excel, PNG, or PDF format, and users can select to export a specific report, or export an entire dashboard.
  
  

This robust, customized, web-based reporting platform is allowing our Collaborative (both School-Age and Whole Child Health Collaborative) users to view and report on their data from many different angles and helping improve outcomes for children. For more information and to schedule a personal demo contact us at 585-673-3200 or info@comet4children.com.        

                                                                                                                                                                            Every child has a story...COMET has the details!

Original Posting 12.10.16

Most organizations today know that part of their infrastructure is their data management system. And their operational excellence depends on having great data collection processes. But it is very easy to overdo the effort in the interest of keeping track of details and also providing inaccurate information by short-cutting methods. Here are a few sound guidelines to use when developing or refining your organization's data collection processes:

8 Tips for Data Collection

1. Only collect data that you know is needed and will be used.
2. Don’t re-collect data that is already available and kept up-to-date.
3. Make sure the person providing the data will have accurate information.
4. Make the survey / test / instrument as easy as possible: keep it as short, minimize effort and time required to complete, schedule it for an appropriate time (example, a time of the year that's less busy), use standard terms and be consistent
5. Have the survey / test / instrument reviewed by knowledgeable professionals
6. Provide clear instructions (purpose, how the data will be used, deadlines, etc.)
7. Do a pretest of the survey on a pilot group and adjust according to feedback.
8. Understand and communicate what laws and regulations govern the data (examples could be FERPA or HIPAA).

Original Posting 16.03.17

We promise to instill in our students a belief in their abilities, an understanding of their potential for achievement, and a joyous spirit of optimism about the future.

The Greater Rochester Summer Learning Association (GRSLA), or summerLEAP, strives to transform the lives of Rochester City School District children by improving access to high-quality, tuition-free summer learning programs.  And they are doing just that.

summerLEAP programs have been recognized by the Anne E. Casey Foundation’s Campaign for Grade Level Reading as a national pacesetter community program. By the time they reach 3rd grade, summerLEAP scholars will have experienced four years of high-quality summer learning programming—programming that will help put a stop to the learning loss low-income children experience during the summer months, while simultaneously improving their math and reading skills.

The goal of summerLEAP is simple and measurable: by the time they reach 3rd grade, their scholars will be reading at level, meeting tough Core standards. summerLEAP kids learn to love reading, and summerLEAP wants to help them gain the literacy skills they need to build a strong foundation for high school, college, and beyond.

We at COMET and the Children’s Institute have been privileged to support the great work being done at SummerLEAP.  By capturing year-over-year program data from the partners within COMET’s database, evaluations are performed for both individual and group data. Evaluations are done for a given year and longitudinally. The data shows that the program is most effective over multiple years, and to have a lasting and positive impact on the students at least three summer sessions are required.  Our non-profit partner, Children’s Institute, functions as an independent evaluator for GRSLA programs. Not only having great data, but also understanding outcomes and demonstrating impact has taken summerLEAP to a whole new level.

Check out our summerLEAP COMET Case Study

Visit the summerLEAP website

Visit Children’s Institute website

Original Posting 18.04.17

There is nothing quite like springtime in upstate New York.

It’s mid-April, the sun is shining, the grass is greening and the flowers are budding.  It is a time where people are filled with energy to “get out there” and confront obstacles and make the changes they know they need to do. It’s the Season of Renewal.

Well, if you use Software as a service (SaaS) and leverage applications over the Internet to help run and manage your organization, there is also a season of renewal.  Sometimes it is annually, sometimes monthly, but you do get a chance to “re-up” your commitment to using the tool.  This is often seen as a time to review the costs and see what you can do to keep them as low as possible, or to subtract or add functionality.  But it is also a perfect time to do some self-evaluation with your team and the way you are using the tool.

Often the value of a software tool, such as a database management system, is lost in bad data management practices and inconsistent usage and deployment.  Interrupt-driven tasks and regression to old habits don’t help either.  And a few rogue individuals who won’t follow operational procedures can really make your data inaccurate - or just plain wrong.

So, when it is time to renew your software tool, plan a review of your team’s usage. Invite input from users who are champions, as well as users who struggle with the process. Include the following questions.

1. What are the main goals for using the system? Are the goals being met?
2. What are the main problems with using the system? Why are these problems happening?
3. Do we need to buy different functions or even a different software system?  What are the costs / changes involved?
4. Do we need to change how we use the system?  What are the costs / changes involved?
5. Do we need additional team members to get an optimal value for our system efforts? (IT support, related groups, …) How can we engage these people?
6. What should we use the system to achieve in the future? How will we measure this and how often?
7. If we make the identified changes, can we see a strong return on investment for using the software?

A fresh outlook on your daily processes can sometimes yield unexpected benefits.  Consider if springtime is the right time for renewal for your organization’s software practices. 

If you are a COMET customer, feel free to reach out to your account manager for tips and support in improving your team's usage of the COMET system.  

Contact support@comet4children.com - we would love to work with you!

Original Posting 02.08.17

We get it. Learning a new database comes with a few challenges and can be intimidating, even overwhelming. For starters, you have  to rethink processes, the way things have always been done. Then you have to sit through multiple hours of training that will still leave you with some questions. We understand this and no one is expected is to leave an initial training being a wiz, but we do expect that you’ll have been provided with enough information to enable you to do the basics and continue to build your knowledge-base. In order for this to be done, there are a couple of things that the trainee can do to help ensure a successful training session:

1. Be Punctual - Learning something new can be tough and when some people show up on time and ready only to be delayed by one or two people showing up late that creates frustration and isn’t conducive to learning.
2. Be Prepared - Again, there’s no amount of training that could be provided in day one to make you feel like an expert. However, there are documents and tutorials we send out to prepare you for the topics that will be discussed. If you’re ready to learn, take a few minutes and read through what’s been provided to you, it can’t hurt.