North Carolina Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS)
Individual-level data on early childhood education, health, and social services from children participating in various programs and services in the state of North Carolina.
Children aged 0-5 participating in selected early childhood programs and services
Access
NC ECIDS offers individual-level data to researchers upon request . Researchers must create a North Carolina ID (NCID) in order to access the forms for submitting a data request. To obtain the data, researchers must submit a Data Use Proposal with general information about the researcher and the project details, Data Use Agreement (DUA), research team confidentiality agreements, documentation demonstrating approval by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), and a list of data elements to be requested. Details and elements of the proposal and agreement forms are described here. Graduate students may serve as the main requestor for the data request but must have their advisor or a sponsoring faculty member listed as a co-requestor. Both the graduate student and their co-requestor are required to sign the DUA.
Once the data request is approved, the data set is available as a one-time download. If the data is published or presented in any form, researchers are also required to submit any and all documentation to NC ECIDS at least 30 days prior to the submission of the publication. Data from ECIDS must be destroyed at the time specified by the DUA expiration date.
If the data request is returned, the researcher will be notified of the changes that will need to be made to allow for resubmission. The data request may be rejected completely if the research does not align with NC ECIDS key questions or if the research questions do not match the available data elements. In this instance, the researcher may submit a new data request.
Timeline for Access
The time it takes for agencies to review and approve the data request varies based on the type of research project, after which the NC ECIDS application produces the data package which is then reviewed by agencies. It typically takes 24 hours to receive the data after the application is approved.
Lag Time
Data is updated annually.
Cost
Access to NC ECIDS records is free.
Linking
NC ECIDS does not allow for external data to be linked to NC ECIDS data. Researchers could potentially obtain NC ECIDS data on a specific cohort of individuals, e.g., a list of study participants, depending on the details of the research project, the Data Use Proposal, and the IRB status.
Identifiers Available for Linking
- NC ECIDS assigns unique identifiers for matching within the data system.
Data Contents
NC ECIDS data is organized by early childhood programs and services: Child Protective Services, Exceptional Children, Food and Nutrition Services (SNAP), Infant-Toddler Program, NC Pre-K Program, Subsidized Child Care Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Work First), and Head Start/Early Head Start.
Partial List of Variables
Child Protective Services: Caretaker contributory factors, child contributory factors, living arrangement, maltreatment type found, risk assessment rating
Exceptional Children: Primary disability code and description, Child Outcomes assessment type and status, service location code and description, service plan type code and description
Food and Nutrition Services (SNAP): Participant start and end date, participant status
Infant-Toddler Program: Evaluation start date, established condition, Early Intervention service description and start date, frequency of services
NC Pre-K Program: Child health assessment, chronic health condition, class size, developmental/educational need, poverty status of child, site county, site primary curriculum used
Subsidized Child Care Assistance Program: Facility level and stars, number of responsible adults
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Work First): Participant start and end date, participant status
Each service program also includes some demographic information of the participating child e.g. date of birth, race/ethnicity, sex/gender.
J-PAL Randomized Evaluations Using this Data Set
Unknown
Other Research Using this Data Set
Unknown
Other Documentation
Unknown