COMET Informatics Collaborating For Rochester's Children Everyone knows collaborating with your community will create better outcomes for the children you serve. Sharing is caring...right? by Andrew Remillard and Samantha Lape Taking all of the information, demographics, living situation, academic performance, outside of school time program attendance, ketchup or mustard on a hot dog preference, and creating a 360-degree view of every child in your community can only bring good things. There is one slight hiccup in the plan. It's hard. Like really hard. Speed bumps like multiple data collection sources, consents, and willingness to participate can feel like unclimbable mountains. The good news is the wave of cooperation is spreading. The reality of better outcomes, less duplication of services, and the better use of resources and broader access to funding sources are becoming less of a rumbling and more of a conversation. There are great examples of collaboration brewing in our local communities. The coming together of schools, community-based organizations, and for-profit entities to provide improved services helps create a more resilient system to support our children.
More Than Just "Absent" Or "Present"
In April, the Rochester City School District (RCSD) and COMET 4 Children (COMET) expanded their collaboration with the Children's Institute led Rochester Early Childhood Assessment Partnership (RECAP) to develop a custom attendance module specifically for the distance learning environment created in response to the Corona Virus pandemic. Due to the existing (expansive and impressive) child-centric collaboration structure in Rochester (see image to the right), this software was developed and in the "hands" of teachers within days. Ann Marie White, Executive Director of Children's Institute, describes why this technology supports the wellbeing of children in Rochester. "During this pandemic, families with young children have faced crises on many fronts, as daily supports for their children's health, education, growth, and enrichment became remote. Despite these massive COVID-19-related disruptions, Rochester's universal pre-K system of school- and community-based providers has continued to partner with parents to support each child and family's wellbeing. Pre-school professionals work daily to connect in new and meaningful ways with families' children as they shelter in place at home. We are pleased to support this system of caring educational contacts between pre-school professionals and families during this crisis. This new record system we commissioned and designed with partners will help pre-school teachers and programs continue to forge high quality supports across early childhood education programs even during such difficult times for all." COMET programmed this custom attendance software commissioned for RECAP to allow RCSD Pre-K teachers to 10 | The ROCHESTER ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2020
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