Custom dashboards and real-time data
Skvare developed a private website for EFS called the Mentoring Academy and Assessment Profile (MAAP). MAAP gives management and staff access to educational Standards guides (comprised of NAC, NAEYC and State Licensing requirements), tracks mentoring and training levels for individual educators, displays site visit progress, assessments, reports, and manages training registration. No longer victims to outdated information, EFS staff now have access to up-to-date documents and reports. MAAP gives EFS field specialists the ability to enter data from their site visits in real time. As a result, the data is immediately transformed into reports on dashboards that show progress toward goals for each early learning educator and center. At the granular level, EFS staff can see which of the 227 educational Standards a teacher has mastered, and percentage progress towards attaining their Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential.
EFS Executive Director John Breitfeller acknowledges Skvare for the increase in funding because the MAAP system allows him to show funders the results of their work supported by real data.
Event management
A searchable calendar displays information on training workshops at the Educational First Steps Early Learning Center in Dallas. Educators can register for the workshops online, and the system automatically adds the credentials to the educator’s personnel record upon completion. At a glance, a childcare center director can see the training levels of each staff member and even register individual employees for workshops.
Training and support
Skvare provided more than 60 hours of training with their data analysts and senior management, meeting on site, via phone, and email. They trained staff on how to get the most out of the website to help them in their jobs.
Skvare provides fully-managed hosting on dedicated servers, optimized for data protection, security and performance. Samantha Moya, Senior Director of Early Learning Programs, confirms, “Knowing that MAAP is safe and sound with Skvare is comforting. I feel confident that we won’t ever lose any information. I don’t have to worry. Skvare gives me that confidence.”
Conclusion
The new website helped Educational First Steps become more organized and efficient. Customized dashboards and report snapshots show EFS specialists and assessors where there are gaps in training. As a result, early learning centers can more quickly achieve accreditation because it’s easy to track what goals they’ve met and what remains to be done. Research shows high-quality early education is key to long-term success, and it’s often the poorest children who are going without. When so much is at stake, it’s comforting to know that EFS is armed with the best tools to help them meet the challenge and increase learning in hundreds of classrooms each year.
The password-protected website is accessible only by EFS staff. You can learn more about Educational First Steps by visiting their public-facing website.
To learn more about this project or other CiviCRM solutions, please visit Skvare.
