Justice Engaged Youth Working Group

Members Present: Johann Liljengren (CDE); DJ Loerzel (CDE); Danielle Ongart (CDE); Kelli Burmeister (CO-DYS); Tom Harbaugh (Judicial); Rashaun Esposito (CDHS/DYS); Maitri Jensen (CDHS); DJ Loerzel (CDE); Tricia Walz (CDE); Shelbie Konkel (CDE)

Facilitators: Berrick Abramson and Carrie Steele, Confluence Policy & Strategy Group

This was the first monthly meeting of the Justice Engaged Students Working Group.

Confluence PSG President, Berrick Abramson and Johann Liljengren, Director, Dropout Prevention & Student Re-engagement at CDE gave welcoming remarks and an overview of the purpose of the meeting, including the agenda items below.

• Working Norms & Agreements
• Scope of Work Refresher
• Definitions Discussion “Justice Engaged” & “Academic Attainment”.
• Agency Data Overview - What exists, how it’s used, limitations
• Agency Data Overview: CDHS, DYS, CDHS, Judicial
• Data Reflections Gaps & Needs 
• Other Voices - Who might we want to engage or have present
• Potential October listening sessions
• Meeting Cadence & Scheduling
• Reflections
• Next steps

Key Topics and Takeaways

Key Takeaways

• Significant data exists across agencies, but gaps and inconsistencies remain in identifying and tracking justice-engaged students across systems
• Student voice and local district/practitioner perspectives critical to inform recommendations
• Committee discussed data sharing agreements as a key challenge to address
• Group will need to further address the definition of “justice engaged students” to address which students we are prioritizing in limited time and to refine the data needed, including what exists, how it’s used, it’s availability and limitations

• Limited data exists on justice-engaged students, specifically as it relates to academic growth and educational outcomes
• There is a lack of consistent unique identifiers to track students across systems
• There is limited state-level data on many justice-engaged categories (e.g. ticketing, diversion)
• There are significant challenges with data collection and the frequent mobility of students and families
• There is greater need for better data sharing agreements between agencies and with local districts
• The working group would like to involve additional voices, including but not limited to student/youth voice on their experiences, local district and practitioner perspectives on real-world implementation, diversion programs and juvenile parole boards.

Next Steps and Meeting Dates

Meeting Materials

The Justice Engaged Students Working Group will meet monthly via Zoom through December 2024. Meetings are open to the public with time reserved for public comment at the end of each meeting. Details of each meeting, including Zoom login, agendas and meeting materials can be found on the working group website.

Upcoming Meeting Dates:

• September 19, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm
• October 17, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm
• November 21, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm
• December 19, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm

Members Present: Johann Liljengren (CDE); DJ Loerzel (CDE); Danielle Ongart (CDE); Tom Harbaugh (Judicial); Rashaun Esposito (CDHS/DYS); Maitri Jensen (CDHS); Katie Hodson (Judicial)

This was the second monthly meeting of the Justice Engaged Students Working Group.

Confluence PSG President, Berrick Abramson and Johann Liljengren, Director, Dropout Prevention & Student Re-engagement at CDE gave welcoming remarks and an overview of the purpose of the meeting, including the agenda items below.

• Welcome, Check-ins & Meeting Overview
• Agency Data Overview: Judicial and CDHS
• Shared Resources
  • Data and research shared with JES Work Group 
  • Norm and plan for member resources
• Definitions Discussion
  • Education & Justice Engagement Continuum
• Prioritizing & Focus on Work Group Scope
  • How to focus our time for great impact;
  • Limits of our scope and current landscape
• Agency Perspective: Prioritizing & Implementing
• Local Perspective, Data and Experiences
  • What do you need/want to know?
  • What questions do you have?
  • What local perspectives would be most helpful?

Next Steps & Meeting Dates

Meeting Materials

The Justice Engaged Students Work Group plans to create an inventory of current data collected across agencies to better inform priorities and implementation needs. 

The Justice Engaged Students Working Group will meet monthly via Zoom through December 2024. Meetings are open to the public with time reserved for public comment at the end of each meeting. Details of each meeting, including Zoom login, agendas and meeting materials can be found on the working group website.

Upcoming Meeting Dates:

• October 17, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm
• November 21, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm
• December 19, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm

Attendees

Members Present: Johann Liljengren (CDE); DJ Loerzel (CDE); Danielle Ongart (CDE); Rashaun Esposito (CDHS/DYS); Maitri Jensen (CDHS); Katie Hodson (Judicial); Tricia Walz, CDE; Shelbie Konkel, CDE.

Facilitators: Berrick Abramson and Carrie Steele, Confluence Policy & Strategy Group

Welcome & Overview of Meeting

This was the third monthly meeting of the Justice Engaged Students Working Group.

Confluence PSG President, Berrick Abramson and Johann Liljengren, Director, Dropout Prevention & Student Re-engagement at CDE gave welcoming remarks and an overview of the purpose of the meeting, including the agenda items below.

• Report Framework Preview & Discussion

• Data Use Scenarios Share-Outs, Group Discussion

  • CDE

  • CDHS

  • Judicial

• Group Reflections & Brainstorm

• Foundational Beliefs & Approach

• Values, Guiding Beliefs & Recognitions

• Next Steps

Key Topics & Takeaways

Key Takeaways

• Work group is developing a framework for final report due in December, focusing on data sharing/analysis recommendations and values-based rationale;

• Agencies shared potential data use scenarios at current, enhanced, and ideal resource levels;

• Key challenges include data privacy concerns, fragmented systems, and need to balance data sharing with student protection;

• Group emphasized importance of framing recommendations around improving student outcomes and opportunities, not just data for its own sake.

Agency Data Use Scenarios

Colorado Department of Education (CDE), Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS), Division of Youth Services (DYS) and Judicial each identified various agency data use scenarios in their current state, enhanced state, and ideals states.

Key themes of the discussion included:

• Exploring the existing data sharing agreements for expanded use;

• Additional data sharing agreements to help analyze the broader justice-engaged population;

• Real-time responsive data to better support immediate student needs

• The need for more cross-agency data sharing to better coordinate services and resources;

• The need for improved internal coordination within individual departments and across other departments/divisions;

• Judicial currently has a limited ability to share juvenile data due to privacy restrictions but would like to explore how to better connect school and judicial data systems.

• Acknowledge balancing data sharing benefits with privacy/protection concerns;

• Focus on improving student outcomes and opportunities, not just data collection;

• Ensure equitable treatment of justice-engaged youth;

• Emphasize collaboration across agencies and systems.

Stakeholder Engagement

Work group would like to hear perspectives from and learn more about:

• Current and former students with lived experience in the justice system;

• District leaders overseeing support programs for at-risk youth;

• Information flow between schools and justice agencies.

Next Steps & Meeting Dates

Meeting Materials

The Justice Engaged Students Work Group plans to create an inventory of current data collected across agencies to better inform priorities and implementation needs. 

The Justice Engaged Students Working Group will meet monthly via Zoom through December 2024. Meetings are open to the public with time reserved for public comment at the end of each meeting. Details of each meeting, including Zoom login, agendas and meeting materials can be found on the working group website.

• November 21, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm

• December 19, 2024; 10:00am-1:00pm

Members Present: Johann Liljengren (CDE); DJ Loerzel (CDE); Danielle Ongart (CDE); Rashaun Esposito (CDHS/DYS); Maitri Jensen (CDHS); Tom Harbaugh (Judicial); Tricia Walz (CDE)

Facilitators: Berrick Abramson and Carrie Steele, Confluence Policy & Strategy Group

This was the fourth monthly meeting of the Justice Engaged Students Working Group.

Confluence PSG President, Berrick Abramson and Johann Liljengren, Director, Dropout Prevention & Student Re-engagement at CDE gave welcoming remarks and an overview of the purpose of the meeting, including the agenda items below.

• Welcome, Check-ins & Meeting Overview
• Report Drafting & Process Overview
• Problem Statement Intro & Discussion
• Recommendations Discussion by Problem
• Public Comment
• Next Steps & Asks

Key Topics & Takeaways

Key Takeaways

• Recommendations will focus on improving collaboration, data sharing, and local support
• Ongoing work needed beyond report to implement changes and engage local stakeholders

Problem Statement Development

The group identified and discussed several key problem statements, including:

• Lack of statewide system and standards for data
• Multiple unique identifiers across agencies
• Limits on data sharing due to privacy & state/federal authority issues
• Data collection frequency and timing differences

Data Ownership and Collaboration

Group Discussion included:

• Group consensus that single agency ownership is not ideal
• The need for increased collaboration and data sharing between agencies
• The potential for an ongoing interagency workgroup
• A need for clear statutory authority for increased data sharing

Local vs. State Roles

Group discussion included:

• A general agreement that direct intervention should remain at local level
• State role should focus on enabling data sharing, analysis, and reporting
• A need to empower local districts with better data and resources

Data Collection and Frequency

Group discussion included:

• Challenges with different data timelines across agencies
• Limitations of annual data to provide real-time interventions
• A need to balance timeliness with data quality/validation needs

Next Steps & Meeting Dates

The Justice Engaged Students Work Group is currently drafting a final report to be delivered to the Colorado state legislature.

Details of each meeting, including Zoom login, agendas and meeting materials can be found on the working group website.

Upcoming Meeting Dates: