Many variables affect the lower education achievement and graduation rates of children and youth in foster care, but incomplete education records and missed opportunities to intervene academically are high on the list.

Caution in regard to sharing information, while understandable, inadvertently creates barriers to exchanging the information that is most likely to change the poor education trajectory on which many students in the foster care system find themselves, through no fault of their own.

This policy brief, produced by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd, outlines the steps needed to ensure more comprehensive and timely sharing of child welfare and education data for foster care students so that the professionals charged with helping them can make informed decisions.

Visit the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd for more information about the Center and its publications.