INQUIRE Data Toolkit
The Quality Initiatives Research and Evaluation Consortium (INQUIRE), funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families, is a community of researchers working to identify issues and exchange resources related to the research and evaluation of Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and other quality initiatives. INQUIRE researchers participate in one or more working groups tasked with developing resources on topics related to QRIS such as validation of quality standards and ratings, the use of observational quality measures in QRIS, and quality improvement.
The INQUIRE Data Work Group was convened to address a request from QRIS stakeholders for information on building an effective data infrastructure to support QRIS data-related activities including monitoring, continuous program improvement, reporting, validation, and evaluation. The INQUIRE Data Toolkit was designed to provide tools to support effective data collection and the use of data to answer important policy and reporting questions through the use of common data elements.
