Updated August 2024

In Part 1 of the data collection process, Parents Centers will use the data collection worksheet and accompanying definitions key to report:

  • numbers of contacts with parents and professionals;
  • an unduplicated count of parents served;
  • demographic data on children (e.g., disability, race, ethnicity) and the primary language of parents;
  • numbers of meetings attended by staff; and
  • outreach and dissemination activities.

In Part 2 of the data collection process, Parent Centers will survey some of the families they have served in the last six months of this program year (April 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024). This part of data collection is called the Program Measures Survey. The survey itself is available in English, in Spanish, and in Korean. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page, the CPIR and RPTACs have posted the questions you asked about last year’s data collection tools and processes, along with answers to those questions. We also offer several sample scenarios, to illustrate how to record and report your work with families and professionals. And there is also a Sample Script for Collecting Race/Ethnicity Data (in Word). Back to top

Frequently Asked Questions about Part 1 of the Data Collection Process 

Question 1: What is the reporting period for Part 1 Data?

Part 1 data collection covers Parent Center activities for the 12 months beginning October 1, 2023 and ending September 30, 2024.

Question 2: What is the deadline for the Part 1 data submission?

The deadline for completing the online submission form for your Part 1 data is November 22, 2024.  It is important that you submit by the deadline, as your unduplicated count of parents and youth served is required in order to determine the numbers of surveys that each Center will complete in Part 2 of the data collection (as mentioned above, the Program Measures Survey).

Further below, we explain how your Center’s unduplicated count of parents and youth/adults served will be used to determine how many surveys your Center will complete in Part 2.

Back to top Question 3: What happens if, at this point, our Center cannot get an unduplicated count?

Your data system may not automatically produce an unduplicated count, but your data system has a list of every person that you were in contact with for TA or training.  If your system does not generate such a list , you will have to go through the lists of TA and training contacts and eliminate the duplicates.  One approach may be to generate your list, then generate it into a Word, .csv, or Excel file, then sort it alphabetically by last name and hand delete any duplicates.

Back to top Question 4: Is a person served in multiple years a new person every year?

Yes.

Back to top Question 5: Regarding disability categories, a Parent Center may have categories that may not fit into any of the categories listed.  What do we do?

We know that the listing of disability categories does not include all of the types of issues parents face when they contact your Center (children at risk, discipline issues). Therefore, report the information you have for the disability categories that are listed in the Data Collection worksheet.  We know that it won’t add up to your total contacts.

Back to top Question 6: Regarding reporting on demographic information, if we serve families multiple times in the same year, do we provide an unduplicated or a duplicated count?

Depending on their contact management system, Centers may find it easier to respond to the counts in the demographic data items as a duplicated count or an unduplicated count (see the sample scenarios). Just let us know which way you are reporting the numbers.  The online submission form asks, “Are these data based on a duplicated or unduplicated count?”  This is where you indicate which way you are reporting it.

 Back to top Question 7: Where do we count ADHD/ADD?

If students have an IEP, they would be under whatever IDEA disability category (e.g., OHI, ED). If they don’t have an IEP, they can be counted under #III.a.16—that is, “disability is suspected or not yet identified.”

Back to top Question 8: What to do when someone identifies themselves as two races?

Count the person once – use “Two or more races.”

Back to top Question 9: What do we do when a lot of people at a training do not check the box for Race/Ethnicity?

Count them as “Undisclosed.” During an in-person training, you can do a visual count of those that you know for sure.

Back to top Question 10:  In the past, we have counted press releases & media PR in with Media.

Now you should count how many Media “Events” actually occurred. You would not count the number of contacts between the center and the media representatives.

Back to top Question 11: If we mail a newsletter to 1,000 people quarterly, do we count that as 1,000 or 4,000?

Count as 4,000 for all the mailings together. If you post your newsletter on your website or to social media, be sure to also count the number of visits to your newsletters in all of these various venues.

Back to top Question 12: When I go to upload my data on the Smartsheet form online, is there a way to save my information and go back to it a day or two later, or do I have to complete it all at once? Will it time me out if I leave for a few hours and come back to finish it?

Knowing that you may not be able to complete your submission in one session, you can save and return—here’s what to do.  Save/Submit when you are ready to take a break, then send Myriam Alizo of CPIR an email. Myriam will send you a link requesting that you update your information. Then you can continue entering data. Rinse and repeat, as they say, or make your final submission when you’ve entered all your data for the year. Myriam’s email is: malizo@spanadvocacy.org

Back to top Question 13: Where are Centers supposed to count individuals who are assisted or who attend trainings who are young adults who have aged out of Part B and are not parents or professionals?  They don’t meet the definition of students because they have aged out of B.

Now for trainings and individual assistance contacts, parent centers will have to report on their services to students under transition age, and youth and young adults of transition age and older.

Back to top Question 14: In Section 5 (Outreach and Dissemination), for the Social media numbers, if I have 2509 likes on our agency Facebook page, and during the reporting period we posted 116 posts, what do we report?

Social media reach refers to the total number of users who have seen your content in any of your given social media platforms.   This is not dependent on the number of followers, likes, or shares.

  • For example, you can have 10,000 followers; however, if you post an article, it may only be seen by 300 people. That’s your reach and the number you should report.

This reach encompasses all content that your Parent Center posts on the various social media platforms, such as but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Social media reach can typically be viewed under each post or through social media analytics tools. The best practice to collect social media analytics is to run monthly reports.

Note: Views of training videos posted in social media (e.g., Facebook Live, YouTube, InstaLive, etc.) are counted under “Virtual Trainings” only.

Back to top Question 15: We have started a virtual meeting option last year for One-on-One assistance (TA) platform.  How do we count the numbers of virtual TA meetings with parents?  Is it counted as calls or other electronic modes? 

  1.  Are these contacts occurring “live” and in-person?  Synchronous? Using a platform like Zoom, or conference call, FaceTime, etc.?

Or

  1. Are they asynchronous where the participants ask questions and send responses using a chat format like WhatsApp or Messaging, etc.?

 

If the answer is “1” (synchronous) you should count them under In-Person Meetings.  If the answer is “2” (asynchronous) you should count them under Emails/Texts and other electronic modes.

Back to top Question 16: As we are putting our Parent center data together for the national data collection, one thing that stands out is that demographic information (age of child, diagnosis of child, and race/ethnicity) for training attendees is significantly lower than in years past. That is because we collect that data from the evaluations that are completed at the end of each training event.  As we moved to virtual trainings, the completion rate of training evaluations is drastically lower than when we are able to conduct face-to-face training events. How can we document this situation?

On the form for the part 1 data, there are Comments areas for each of the sections. Please use the Comments to document any issues you have experienced.

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What to Do With Your Unduplicated Count 

A new process was piloted last year for selecting the pool of parents and youth/young adults (the 3 lists) who will be asked to complete the Program Measures Survey. That process is linked to the “unduplicated count” of parents and youth/young adults served that Centers report in Part I of the data collection process and includes the following steps:

  • Each Parent Center generates an unduplicated list of parents and youth/young adults (the 3 lists) served this past program year.
  • Each parents and youth/young adults on the Center’s list is assigned a unique code or identifier.
  • All Centers provide the CPIR with their list of these unique codes or identifiers (not the names of parents and youth/young adults or any personally identifiable information).
  • Several of the unique codes or identifiers on each list will be randomly selected.
  • CPIR provides each Parent Center with a list of the codes or identifiers selected for its Center.
  • Each Parent Center then matches the codes or identifiers to their list of unduplicated parents and youth/young adults served, and now knows the pool of parents and youth/young adults to ask to participate in the Program Measures Survey.

More detailed information about this process is available in Instructions for Collecting and Submitting Your Data from the Program Measure Survey (online), which is also available as a downloadable Word file. Back to top Our list includes parents’ contact information. So what do we send CPIR?

You just send the list of unique identifiers you created. Be sure to maintain your original list so that you can connect the unique identifier to specific parents.

To illustrate, here’s a sample list of parent names and phone numbers generated by a Parent Center—in this case, YOUR Center. To the right, you can see that each individual has been assigned a unique “contact code.”

Sample list of parents, their phone numbers, and the unique code they've been assigned

You would send only the list of “contact codes” to the CPIR for selection of participants. No personally identifiable information is shared.

Let’s say that 2 codes are selected: the first and the last. You would receive back from the CPIR those 2 codes (in this example, 1010 and 7777).

Using your original list, you can match the codes to the individuals’ names and know who to ask to participate in the survey. Your Center is the only one that knows who had been assigned those codes.

Back to top So we don’t send CPIR names, only the contact codes?

Yes, that’s correct. Send only the contact codes.

Back to top I would like to understand the benefit of CPIR having the code of a family.

The collection of the Program Measures Survey will be truly random across the Parent Centers.  In order for it to be random, someone has to generate a random list of participants.  In this case, the CPIR will generate the random list for each Parent Center but will need to have a coded list of participants to generate that list.

Assigning every individual a unique code and providing CPIR with only the unique code is an ironclad way to protect the personally identifiable information of the parents, youth/young adult and child. CPIR will never know the identity of the family behind the unique code, only the Parent Center involved will know. In this, CPIR is an intermediary facilitating the random selection of families to participate in the Program Measures Survey.

Back to top With respect to the “Unduplicated Number of Parents and Youth/Young Adults Served”:   We usually get complete contact information from individuals receiving individual assistance. However, we don’t always get complete contact information from parents and youth/young adults attending training – often just email or phone or address or nothing. Do we include them if contact information is incomplete?

You should only include contacts for which you have either a phone number or an email address, so you will have a way of contacting them with the Program Measures Survey.

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