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National Child Care DataNumber of resources found: 162
 Indicates a resource from a Land Grant Institution or from a Cooperative Extension Agency.
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Evaluation
A Guide to Calculating the Cost of Quality Early Care and Education Language: English
Author: Stebbins, Helene
Publisher: The Finance Project (May 2006)
Description: This strategy brief, A Guide to Calculating the Cost of Quality Early Care and Education, is intended to
assist policymakers, community leaders, and program developers create accurate estimates of the cost of high-quality early care and education systems.
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Do States Require Child Care Programs to Educate Children? Infant/Toddler Rules to Assure Early Education and Strong Relationships Language: English
Author: LeMoine, Sarah
Publisher: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (2004)
Description: A review of whether states mandate educational programs as part of their licensing regulations for full-time child care and preschool centers. Report #3 examines the baseline requirements that states require of all center programs that are permitted to care for infants and toddlers.
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Do States Require Child Care Programs to Educate Children?: Preschool and Child Care Center Rules. Language: English
Author: Morgan, Gwen
Publisher: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (2004)
Description: A review of whether states mandate educational programs as part of their licensing regulations for full-time child care and preschool centers.
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Do States Require Child Care Programs to Educate Children?: State Center Licensing Requirements for Child Development and Early Education Language: English
Author: Morgan, Gwen
Publisher: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (2004)
Description: A review of states' licensing regulations for child care centers and analysis of states' requirements and intentions to include educational programs as a component of licensed child care.
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Policy Matters: Setting and Measuring Benchmarks for State Policies: Improving the Readiness of Children for School: Recommendations for State Policy. Language: English
Author: Kagan, Sharon Lynn
Publisher: Center for the Study of Social Policy (Washington, D.C.) (2003)
Description: A presentation of a school readiness policy logic model, with recommendations and benchmarks for state policymakers in critical areas such as child care subsidies, licensing, accreditation, standards, assessment, professional development, systems development, facilities, capital investments, and kindergarten quality.
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Quality in Early Childhood Care and Education Settings: A Compendium of Measures (2nd Ed.) Language: English
Author: Halle, Tamara
Publisher: Child Trends (March 2010)
Description: This report was written to provide a consistent framework with which to review the existing measures of the quality of early care and education settings. The aim is to provide uniform information about quality measures. It is hoped that such information will be useful to researchers and practitioners, and help to inform the measurement of quality for policy-related purposes. It provides info on tools currently being used to measure quality in ECE for various purposes, primarily for accountability and public policy. Cross references the measures for purpose and age, etc.
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State Efforts to Evaluate the Effects of Prekindergarten Language: English
Author: Gilliam, Walter
Publisher: Yale University Child Study Center (April 19, 2004)
Description: In recent decades, state involvement in prekindergarten services has increased dramatically. This report by Walter S. Gilliam and Edward F. Zigler documents the transition from 10 states providing services in 1980 to 40 states providing services today.
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The Dynamics of Child Care Subsidy Use: A Collaborative Study of Five States Language: English
Author: Meyers, Marcia
Publisher: National Center for Children in Poverty (July 2002)
Description: This report attempts to answer questions about who recieves child care subsidies and how they are used.
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General Information
A Decade of Change: Early Education enrollment and Expenditure Patterns 1995-2005
Language: English
Author: Belfield, Clive
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (2010)
Description: This paper reports on enrollments and expenditures for ECCE across the decade from
1995 to 2005. These surveys provide detailed information on all forms of ECCE, as well as information on private expenditures that enable analysis of enrollment patterns by age of child, mother’s employment, marital status, expenditure patterns and prices paid per hour of services.
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A Stitch in Time: Calculating the Cost of School Unreadiness Language: English
Author: Bruner, Charles
Publisher: The Finance Project (Sept 2002)
Description: Charlie Bruner presents information and approaches to make the case for investments in early childhood by focusing on the investment potential of early childhood services in school readiness and other desired results.
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America's Report Card 2012: Children in the US Language: English
Publisher: First Focus and Save the Children (October 2012)
Description: America’s Report Card provides a holistic picture of unmet needs in five areas of a child’s life: economic security, early childhood education, K-12 education, permanence and stability, and health and safety. The report, co-released by First Focus and Save the Children also urges the American people to take action to boost children’s chances for success in school and life: vote in November’s general election for candidates who support investments in children; hold elected officials accountable for commitments to help children succeed; and engage with other local leaders to improve the lives of children in their own communities.
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An Actionable Federal Framework to Promote QRIS in the States Language: English
Author: Mitchell, Anne
Publisher: Alliance for Early Childhood Finance (Dec 2009)
Description: Mitchell and Stoney prepared this memorandum, which describes a strategy for supporting Quality Rating and Improvement Systems in states across the US, in 2009. This briefing paper outlines short- and longer-term steps the federal government can take to support state development of effective QRIS.
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Building an Early Childhood Professional Development System Language: English
Author: Demma, Rachel
Publisher: The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (February 2010)
Description: This Issue Brief identifies the initial steps governors can take to build a comprehensive early childhood professional development system for all program staff and personnel who work with young children, including: Coordinate early childhood professional development policies; Implement research-based standards for early childhood professional development; Ensure access to professional development opportunities; and Gather and use data on characteristics of the early childhood workforce to improve professional and program quality.
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Building the Workforce Our Youngest Children Deserve Language: English
Author: Rhodes, Holly
Publisher: Society for Research in Child Development (2012)
Description: In this report, we build on a report of a workshop held by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council with the goals of defining and describing the ECCE workforce, exploring workforce characteristics that affect children’s development, and considering ways to build ECCE as a profession. One major theme in our discussion is the need for integration of the two policy streams represented by the terms “early education” and “child care.” Both settings provide experiences that affect child development. Both can function well when the personnel are well-trained, sensitive, and skilled, and work in supportive conditions.
One feature of an integrated ECCE system is a unifying definition of the profession, a goal that could be promoted by revision of the federal occupational definitions and fostering federal and state collaborations around data. Policies to promote integration also include developing common goals, administrative systems, quality standards, and professional development activities.
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Child Care and Community Development Language: English
Author: Anderson, Kristen
Publisher: Cornell University (2010)
Description: This paper details how a robust local system of child care and early education programs has social, economic, and environmental benefits for the child, family and community. It provides useful examples of policies, strategies and on‐the‐ground child care projects for planners seeking to enhance child care services to build family friendly communities.
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Child Care Choices of Low-Income Working Families Language: English
Author: CHAUDRY, AJAY
Publisher: January 2011 (2010)
Description: This study focuses primarily on the process of parents’ child care decision making and builds on a growing body of research that has identified a range of personal and contextual factors that influence the type of child care that low-income families use. The study supports and adds to the extant research by going beyond the patterns of association between family characteristics and child care arrangements to describe the complexity of child care decision making; the interplay between parental opportunities, preferences, and constraints; and the ultimate reasons parents select the type of care they do.
This study focuses most intentionally on the left side of the conceptual framework. Specifically, they examine family, community, and preferences—and how those lead to the child care arrangements that parents use based, in part, on the opportunities, constraints, and barriers presented during decision making as well as any financial assistance used.
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Children of Immigrants: National and State Characteristics
Language: English
Author: Fortuny, Karina
Publisher: Urban Institute (May 2009)
Description: This brief describes the national and state characteristics of children of immigrants based on recent American Community Survey data. Since children of immigrants account for almost a quarter (24 percent) of children under age 5, their share in the school-age population will increase, with important implications for education policy. In addition, children of immigrants' poverty and low-income rates vary across states, highlighting the importance of state and local policies in promoting children's well-being.
Also see the accompanying Urban Institute's interactive Children of Immigrants Data Tool, http://capwiz.com/naeyc/utr/1/CQFLMBCQVP/COCZMBCQZT/4690456521.
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Common Vision, Different Paths: Five State's Journeys toward Comprehensive Prenatal-to-Five Systems Language: English
Publisher: Institute for Educational Leadership (May 2009)
Description: This joint report from Pre-K Now and ZERO TO THREE articulates a common vision for early childhood systems in which programs work effectively with each other to provide high-quality early learning and comprehensive services.
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Comparison of Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) with Department of Defense Standards for Quality Language: English
Author: Kendall, Rosemary
Publisher: National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) (August 2009)
Description: In this report, NACCRRA examines Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) standards for child care centers and family child care homes in the 19 states with state-wide QRIS to provide information about which QRIS level (or levels) in each state meet U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) criteria for quality. Appendix A includes state by state comparisons of QRIS and DoD Standards. The document includes recommendations for states as they explore, design, implement or modify their quality rating and improvement systems.
A Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) is a comprehensive approach to improving quality for children in child care and other early education settings. Similarly, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has used a systems approach to ensure quality for children in military child care.
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Department of Education's Early Education Blueprint Language: English
Publisher: National School Boards Association (May 2010)
Description: This is a proposal for early learning as part of the Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The National School Board Association's proposal for early learning in the ESEA reauthorization, based on the Department's Blueprint, includes NSBA's primary recommendatiosn for Pre-K.
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Developmentally Appropriate Practice: A Sign of Quality Child Care
Language: English
Author: Wilson, Elaine
Publisher: Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension (May 2010)
Description: This fact sheet tells parents how early childhood professionals define quality child care and developmentally appropriate practice. As consumers, families need to know the criteria for quality child care. Parents want to know what to look for when they visit programs and what questions to ask directors and providers of child care. Most of all, parents need to understand why developmentally appropriate practices are best for their children. Developmentally appropriate programs match activities to the age and ability of the child. Providers respect the child’s family background and interests. Play is the key method for learning.
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Early Childhood Care and Education: What are States Doing? Family Impact Seminars Language: English
Publisher: University of Wisconsin-Extension (2002)
Description: This resource contains briefing reports and articles summarizing the seminar. Family Impact Seminars are a series of seminars, briefing reports, newsletters, and discussion sessions that provide up-to-date, solution-oriented research on current issues for state policymakers, legislators, legislative staff, Governor's Office staff, legislative support bureau personnel, and state agency representatives. Family Impact Seminars analyze the consequences an issue, policy, or program may have for families.
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Early Learning and the Early Grades Language: English
Publisher: Education Commission of the States (2010)
Description: The website for the Education Commission of the States provides information on early learning and the early grades. This issue site is dedicated to issues relating to learning and development of children from birth to age 8.
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Early Learning Initiative Language: English
Publisher: U.S. Department of Education (2011)
Description: The U.S. Department of Education has announced a new web page devoted to early learning. According to the announcement, the web page is designed to include information about: key programs, funding opportunities, resources and publications, technical assistance, and interagency work; early learning in the Administration’s proposal for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); investments in early learning across Departments.
The page includes presentation materials, a webinar, blog posts, and public comments from our Listening and Learning about Early Learning tour.
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Estimated Participation and Hours in Early Care and Education by Type of Arrangement and Income at Ages 2 to 4 in 2010 Language: English
Author: Barnett, W. Steven
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (December 2012)
Description: This working paper by estimates participation in early childhood education programs by child’s age, program setting, family income level, and child’s household language. By combining data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS), the National Household Education Survey (NHES), and information collected by NIEER for the State of Preschool Yearbook, their estimates provide a detailed look at primary and secondary care arrangements for children ages 2 to 4 in 2010.
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Expanding Voluntary Preschool Education: The Federal Role Language: English
Author: Gayl, Chrisanne
Publisher: National School Boards Association (2007)
Description: This policy brief from the National School Boards Association examines efforts currently underway to prepare our children for school, what the research tells us works, and how the federal government can assist school districts in implementing
effective programs.
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Explaining the Black-White Achievement Gap in the Context of Family, Neighborhood, and School Language: English
Author: Burchinal, Margaret
Publisher: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Univeristy of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Dec 2011)
Description: In the United States, Black children start school behind their White peers on standardized reading and mathematics tests, and racial disparities in achievement increase during each subsequent year of primary and secondary education. To formulate an appropriate policy response to this enduring problem, a careful and comprehensive understanding of the factors that contribute to the achievement gap is needed.
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Features of Pre-kindergarten Programs, Classrooms, and Teachers: Do They Predict Observed Classroom Quality and Child–Teacher Interactions? Language: English
Author: Pianta, Robert
Publisher: Applied Developmental Science (2005)
Description: This study draws from the National Center for Early Development and Learning’s Multi-State Pre-Kindergarten Study to evaluate the extent to which features of the ecology of pre-kindergarten programs (program, teacher, classroom attributes) in six states predict three forms of observed classroom quality and teacher–child interactions.This study is designed to have relevance for policy and to evaluate a model of the ecology of these early education settings by including some factors (such as teachers’ attitudes) that are not the direct focus of policy.
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Federal Expenditures on Elementary-Age Children in 2008 (Ages 6 through 11) Language: English
Author: Vericker, Tracy
Publisher: The Urban Institute (March 2010)
Description: This report provides a first-time analysis of the nation's current spending on elementary-age children by examining 2008 federal expenditures from more than 100 federal programs on children ages 6 through 11. Findings show that six programs account for 63 percent of the expenditures on elementary-age children. Three of these are tax programs (CTC, EITC, and the dependent exemption), while the other three are child nutrition, Medicaid, and education for the disadvantaged. Education programs figure prominently in federal spending on this age group, representing 16 percent of total spending.
Excerpts from the complete document can be found at http://www.urban.org/publications/412060.html.
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Federal Expenditures on Infants and Toddlers in 2007 Language: English
Author: Macomber, Jennifer
Publisher: The Urban Institute (April 2009)
Description: This report examines more than 100 programs through which the federal government spends money on children and calculates the amount spent on children under three. These first time expenditure estimates provide a place to start in gauging the priority the nation places on investing in very young children and in comparing expenditure patterns to researchers’ findings about investments that work. For example, despite extensive child development research underscoring the importance of quality early care and education programs for infants and toddlers, especially those in poverty, just 7 percent of federal funding for children between birth and age 2 went toward these efforts in 2007.
Excerpts from the complete document can be found at http://www.urban.org/publications/411875.html and the Key Facts can be found at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411878_federal_expenditures_keyfacts.pdf.
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Federal Expenditures on Pre-Kindergarteners and Kindergarteners in 2008 (Ages 3 through 5) Language: English
Author: Kent, Adam
Publisher: The Urban Institute (March 2010)
Description: This report provides a first-time analysis of the nation's current spending on pre-kindergartners and kindergartners by examining 2008 federal expenditures from more than 100 federal programs on children ages 3 through 5. Findings show that six programs accounted for approximately two-thirds of all federal expenditures on this age group in 2008: Head Start, Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and three tax programs (the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and the dependent exemption). Programs that specifically focus on the care and education of children ages 3 through 5 represent 23 percent of total federal expenditures.
Excerpts from the complete document can be found at http://www.urban.org/publications/412059.html and a summary of the Data Appendix can be found at http://www.urban.org/publications/412076.html.
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Getting Organized: Unionizing Home-Based Child Care Providers Language: English
Author: Chalfie, Deborah
Publisher: The National Women’s Law Center (February 2007)
Description: The authors of this report highlight how communities benefit when workers join unions. The report focuses on three states where home-based child care providers have joined unions, and have used their political power to advocate for increased wages and improved working conditions.
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Head Start by the Numbers: 2008 PIR Profile Language: English
Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy (2009)
Description: CLASP has created state fact sheets analyzing Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) data for 2008, which all grantees are required to report annually to the federal government. Each profile includes all Head Start programs in the state: Early Head Start, Head Start preschool, American Indian and Alaskan Native Head Start, and Migrant/Seasonal Head Start. More specifically, the information includes data on participants, families, staff, and programs. This URL will provide the information for all programs in the US. Go to CLASP's In the States to read the fact sheet for your state (http://www.clasp.org/in_the_states/).
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Head Start Impact Study: First Year Findings Language: English
Publisher: United States Department of Health and Human Services (June 2005)
Description: The study quantifies the impact of Head Start separately for 3- and 4-year old children across child cognitive, social emotional, and health domains as well as on parenting practices.
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Improving and Rating the Quality of Early Care and Education in Florida Language: English
Author: Mitchell, Anne
Publisher: Alliance for Early Childhood Finance (June 2007)
Description: The Policy Group for Florida’s Families and Children commissioned this issue brief to offer information and guidance on a critical issue facing Florida (and the nation): how to improve the quality of early care and education for our youngest citizens. Drawing on information both from the experience of other states and the pioneering efforts in several Florida counties, this brief outlines the context and case for action in Florida.
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In Their Own Voices: Parents and Providers Struggling with Child Care Cuts Language: English
Author: Schulman, Karen
Publisher: National Women’s Law Center (2005)
Description: This report explores how such cuts have affected low-income families who otherwise would not be able to afford child care, child care providers serving these families, and the children who need high-quality care.
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InBrief: The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood Language: English
Publisher: National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2010)
Description: This edition of the InBrief series provides a concise summary of findings from the report.
The knowledge base summarized in this document presents a compelling rationale for fundamentally rethinking the health dimension of early childhood policy. A vital and productive society with a prosperous and sustainable future is built on a foundation of healthy child development. Health in the earliest years—beginning with the future mother’s well-being before she becomes pregnant—lays the groundwork for a lifetime of vitality.
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Integrating Federal Statistics on Children: Report of a Workshop Language: English
Publisher: National Academies Press (1995)
Description: This Web site was developed by the National Academies Press to provide the viewer with a free, on-line browsable copy of "Integrating Federal Statistics on Children: Report of a Workshop." This book demonstrates how statistical findings can be implemented to develop family policy that benefits children and families.
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Issues for the Next Decade of Quality Rating and Improvement Systems Language: English
Author: Tout, Kathryn
Publisher: Child Trends (May 2009)
Description: This issue brief draws on a review of the literature on QRSs and meetings of experts and stakeholders. This brief describes key themes from the meetings, then concludes with a description of follow-up steps Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation is taking in collaboration with partners to address the issues raised.
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Kids' Share 2012: Report on Federal Expenditures on Children Through 2011 Language: English
Author: Isaacs, Julia
Publisher: Urban Institute (July 2012)
Description: This report provides in-depth analysis of dozens of federal programs and tax provisions that allocate resources to children and places these expenditures in the broader context of the overall federal budget. The report is organized into three major sections: current expenditures, historical trends, and future projections. While the primary focus is federal expenditures, including direct spending from federal programs (outlays) and reductions in taxes (tax expenditures), the current expenditures section also provides information about state and local spending on children.
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Licensing Toolkit: User Guide and 3 Action Sheets Language: English
Publisher: National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education (Aug 2011)
Description: The prototype Toolkit is designed to support states' child care licensing personnel and child care providers in promoting children's healthy eating habits and activities.
It focuses on the Caring for Our Children, 3rd edition Standard, "Avoid sugar and concentrated sweets," and consists of a User Guide and three Action Sheets for use by regulators working with: Licensing Agencies, Child Care Providers, or Legislators.
The Toolkit consists of three components: 1) Licensing Agencies’ Action Sheet, 2) Child Care Provider’s Action Sheet, 3) Legislator’s Action Sheet
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Meeting the Early Learning Challenge: A Checklist for High Quality QRIS Language: English
Author: Johnson-Staub, Christine
Publisher: CLASP (2011)
Description: To compete for the Department of Education's Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC), each state is required to at minimum have a "high quality plan" to adopt a common, statewide tiered Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) based on a set of tiered program standards. While more than half of states currently operate a QRIS, they vary in design and effectiveness.
States can use this document to review their RTT-ELC plans and assess whether they've included important policy goals and recommendations for designing a high quality QRIS, or strengthening existing QRIS, to meet the challenge.
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Metrotrends: Children - Mismatch Between Local Resources Today and Investment Needs for the Nation's Future Language: English
Author: Golden, Olivia
Publisher: The Urban Institute (2008)
Description: This report identifies child population (children under age 18) in metropolitan areas and compares it with high immigration areas. Children are a national, not a state or metropolitan resource, but current investments in future success are disproportionately financed by the cities and states where children live now. The current state of the economy makes it even more difficult for communities with high populations of children and immigrant children to provide support children and families.
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Missed Opportunities: The Possibilities and Challenges of Funding High Quality Preschool through Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act Language: English
Author: Ewen, Danielle
Publisher: CLASP (March 2005)
Description: This paper from the Center for Law and Social Policy provides general background on the legislation behind Title I and gives an overview of the available data on the use of Title I funds for preschool. Examples of how some states and communities have used Title I funds for preschool programs are given.
This paper examines the availability of Title I funds for preschool programs from both a legal and practical perspective.
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Next Round of Race to the Top Focuses on Early Childhood Education Language: English
Publisher: National Association of State Boards of Education (July 2011)
Description: This news brief discusses the next round of the Race to the Top and how it focuses on Early Childhood Education. It challenges states' to increase collaboration between the early childhood learning community and foundations, businesses, nonprofit organizations, researchers, and other various stakeholders to help boost the quality and access of programs and close the achievement gap.
Requirements, selection criteria, and priorities for applicants are provided a long with a list of states receiving funding.
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NSBA Issue Brief: Investing in Early Childhood Education Language: English
Publisher: National School Boards Association (Feb 2011)
Description: The National School Board Association's issue brief on early childhood education.
Since 2006, NSBA and its Center for Public Education have collaborated with Pre[k]now, a campaign of the Pew Center on the States, to engage school boards in support of high quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten education. Partnerships with state school boards associations promoted greater access to voluntary, highquality pre-kindergarten programs in the belief that such programs will propel schools’ efforts to raise student achievement and close achievement gaps.
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Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2012 Report Language: English
Publisher: Child Care Aware of America (2012)
Description: This report provides information about the cost of child care from a recent survey of Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) State Network offices and local agencies. Child care costs were reported for infants, 4-year-olds, and school-age care in centers and family child care homes.
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Penny Wise, Pound Foolish: Why Fighting Child Poverty in the Great Recession Makes Sense Language: English
Author: Holzer, Harry
Publisher: Half in Ten (September 2010)
Description: Child poverty generates serious long-term economic costs not only for those children (when they become adults), but for the U.S. economy as a whole. This paper argues that these long-term costs will rise because of the Great Recession, as child poverty rises substantially and remains elevated for years to come. Children growing in newly poor families, and/or those whose parents suffer permanent job loss, will likely have worse educational and employment outcomes. Those young people who enter the labor market during this period will suffer reduced earnings as well. This will impose fiscal as well as economic costs on the U.S. in the future. Investments to reduce child poverty in both the short and long-terms thus make economic sense for the U.S., despite the nation’s ongoing fiscal crisis.
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Policies to Assist Parents with Young Children Language: English
Author: Ruhm, Christopher
Publisher: The Future of Children PRINCETON -BROOKINGS INSTITUTION (Fall 2011)
Description: This article is part of a Journal on Work and Family.
This article looks at two potential interventions— parental leave and early childhood education and care (ECEC)—comparing differences in policies in the United States, Canada, and several European nations and assessing their consequences for important parent and child outcomes.
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Policy Matters: Setting and Measuring Benchmarks for State Policies: Improving the Readiness of Children for School: Recommendations for State Policy. Language: English
Author: Kagan, Sharon Lynn
Publisher: Center for the Study of Social Policy (Washington, D.C.) (2003)
Description: A presentation of a school readiness policy logic model, with recommendations and benchmarks for state policymakers in critical areas such as child care subsidies, licensing, accreditation, standards, assessment, professional development, systems development, facilities, capital investments, and kindergarten quality.
More
Policy Update: Out of School Time Learning Language: English
Publisher: National Association of State Boards of Education (July 2011)
Description: This fact sheet discusses out of school time in relationship to student outcomes. It provides national data and recommendations for using out of school time to support children's academic success.
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Practices for Promoting Young Children’s Learning in QRIS Standards Language: English
Author: Smith, Sheila
Publisher: National Center for Children in Poverty (September 2012)
Description: This brief provides a examination of the strength of supports for children’s early learning in QRIS standards. An analysis of QRIS standards in 23 states, and ELGs in a subset of these states, addresses questions about early learning standards as support for QRIS and overal quality improvement for early childhood programs.
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Public Investment in Children's Early and Elementary Years (Birth to Age 11) Language: English
Author: Macomber, Jennifer
Publisher: The Urban Institute (March 2010)
Description: How government spends money, and who benefits, reveals our priorities. How, then, do children fare in the competition for public resources? This report looks at public investments across age groups, from birth through the elementary years. Key findings show that spending more than doubles per capita between the infant and toddler years and the elementary years. The increase is driven by growing state and local spending; the federal contribution is relatively stable across age groups. Findings also reveal that states and localities spend more money than the federal government does on children, except when it comes to the youngest children.
Excerpts from the complete document can be found at http://www.urban.org/publications/412061.html.
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Putting it Together: A Guide to Funding Comprehensive Services in Child Care and Early Education Language: English
Author: Johnson-Staub, Christine
Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) (August 2012)
Description: CLASP has released a new guide that is meant to help states look beyond major sources of child care and early education funding and consider alternative federal financing sources to bring comprehensive services into early childhood settings. The guide walks early childhood stakeholders through: the steps of building financing partnerships, critical information and resources related to specific federal funding streams that support comprehensive services for children, funding examples from state and local communities, and technical details on the allowable uses of funding streams to support comprehensive services.
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QRIS and P-3: Creating Synergy Across Systems to Close Achievement Gaps and Improve Opportunities for Young Children Language: English
Author: Kauerz, Kristie
Publisher: Economic Policy Institute (March 2011)
Description: This brief summarizes two policy strategies for improving young children's learning and development which have largely operated independently from one another: quality rating and improvement systems and P-3 alignment. The authors make recommendations as to how both early learning reform efforts can be individually strengthened as well as how they can be aligned with one another to build a stronger and more comprehensive system of care for children that is well positioned to close the achievement gap. Recommendations are discussed with respect to the important role that the philanthropic community can play in facilitating alignment between the two reform efforts.
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Quality Rating & Improvement Systems for a Multi-Ethnic Society Language: English
Author: Bruner, Charles
Publisher: Build (March 2011)
Description: A Build Brief on Diversity and Equity. In this issue brief they discuss: why it is important to include cultural and linguistic responsiveness and anti-bias programming as aspects of early learning quality; a content-analysis of common QRIS components with respect to how they include issues of diversity and support for English-language learners; how states have included these issues in QRIS planning and development; and recommendations for how states can strengthen their QRIS rating components to be more culturally and linguistically competent and relevant.
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Recession, Stimulus and the Child Care Sector: Understanding Economic Dynamics, Calculating Impact Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University (2009)
Description: As part of the new Stimulus Bill (ARRA), states and localities may be required to show economic impact of the stimulus funds. This brief was developed to help state policymakers calculate the impacts of the recession on the child care sector and provide an example of how to calculate the impact of stimulus expenditures on child care output and employment.
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Rejecting the “At-Risk” Stereotype: Project U-STARS~PLUS Helps Kids “At-Potential” Language: English
Publisher: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Univeristy of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (July 2010)
Description: This news brief highlights a project that supports teachers in the early recognition and nurturing of potential in children with high potential from educationally vulnerable populations.
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Reports on America: Children in Immigrant Families Chart New Path
Language: English
Publisher: The Annie E. Casey Foundation (February 2009)
Description: This report culminates a three-year study of the characteristics of children in immigrant families funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The vast majority of the 16 million children in America's immigrant families are U.S. citizens who were born in the United States to foreign-born parents. The well-being of children in immigrant families varies based on their parents' country of origin, education, and the circumstances of their migration to the United States.
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Rural Families Choose Home-Based Child Care for their Preschool-Aged Children Language: English
Author: Smith, Kristin
Publisher: The Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire (Spring 2006)
Description: This policy brief discusses the child care choices of rural families. Although less prevalent than relative care, the use of informal non-related care providers for preschoolers is more common in rural communities than in urban areas. In sum, rural families choose home-based child care in the form of relatives or informal
non-related care providers to care for their preschoolers more often than organized care facilities.
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Starting Off Right: Promoting Child Development from Birth in State Early Care and Education Initiatives Language: English
Author: Schumacher, Rachel
Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy (2006)
Description: This paper seeks to support state leaders who endeavor to develop early care and education policies that promote child development from birth. Specifically, this paper: Provides background data on infants and toddlers and their participation in early care and
education; Outlines a framework and highlights state examples of both policy initiatives to promote child development from birth to age 3 and state governance and funding strategies to support birth to 3 policies; Suggests key steps and considerations for state leaders; and, Discusses emerging themes that cut across birth to 3 early care and education policy issues.
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Starting Smart & Finishing Strong: Fixing the Cracks in America's Workforce Pipeline Through Investments in Early Childhood Development Language: English
Publisher: Institute for a Competitive Workforce (2010)
Description: The Institute for a Competitive Workforce, a nonprofit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, recently collaborated with the Partnership for Success to create a new brochure which supports investing early in a child's life as a means to develop the workforce America needs for a 21st-Century economy. This brief describes the issues facing employers in finding qualified employees, and how early programs can help alleviate those problems.
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State Child Care Assistance Policies 2010: New Federal Funds Help States Weather the Storm Language: Spanish, English
Author: Schulman, Karen
Publisher: National Women's Law Center (Sept 2010)
Description: A new report from the National Women's Law Center finds that ARRA/stimulus funds helped states avoid cuts to their child care assistance policies between 2009 and 2010. The report finds that most states did not have major changes in their child care assistance policies, including income eligibility limits, waiting lists, parent copayments, and reimbursement rates, despite cuts to other programs during the same time frame. However, now that states are beginning to exhaust these funds, child care assistance programs may be at risk of cuts without additional funding.
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State Issues and Innovations in Creating Integrated Early Learning and Development Systems Language: English
Author: Schumacher, Rachel
Publisher: U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (2011)
Description: This report discusses an “integrated state early learning and development system.” Such a system consists of interrelated services and systems that work toward a common goal: to ensure the healthy growth and optimal development of young children within their families and communities. It would include early care and education; early intervention and special education; health, mental health and nutrition; and services to strengthen and engage families in their children’s development and learning.
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State of Care Index Language: English
Publisher: care.com (2009)
Description: The State of Care Index is the first survey to measure families' attitudes towards caregiving, the unique pressures they face and how child responsibilities impact daily life. In this study, they explore how economic concerns and constraints have changed families’ child care arrangements, if these changes affect quality of care, and how much time and effort are devoted to researching and interviewing prospective child care providers before making a change.
Quick fact sheets as well as the entire report are available as pdfs on this site.
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Staying Afloat in Tough Times: What States Are and Aren\'t Doing to Promote Family Economic Security Language: English
Author: Fass, Sarah
Publisher: National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) (August 2008)
Description: This report focuses only on policies that benefit individual families (as opposed, for example, to broader job creation and economic development strategies) and only on those policies for which 50-state data sources are available. The report tracks three categories of state policy choices that affect the ability of low-wage workers to achieve financial security: work attachment and advancement, income adequacy, and asset development and protection.
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Stepping Up for Kids: What Government and Communities Should Do to Support Kinship Families Language: English
Publisher: The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2012)
Description: In this policy report, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Foundation explores the increased number of children living with extended family and close friends, a longtime practice known as kinship care. "Stepping Up for Kids: What Government and Communities Should Do to Support Kinship Families" includes the latest data for states, the District of Columbia, and the nation, as well as a set of recommendations on how to support kinship families. The report finds that in the past decade there has been an 18% increase in children living with relatives or close family friends, because their parents can no longer care for them.
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Strengthening the Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce Would Benefit Young Children Language: English
Author: Bridgman, Anne
Publisher: The Society for Research in Child Development (2012)
Description: This social policy brief for the journal Child Development summarizes a longer report. It includes what the research says about strengthening the early childhood care and education workforce and how to improve its effectiveness, provides facts at a glance, and policy implications.
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Supporting Family, Friend and Neighbor Caregivers: Findings From a Survey of State Policies Language: English
Author: Porter, Toni
Publisher: Bank Street College of Education (Jan 2005)
Description: This research focused on enhancing the understanding of the context in which kith and kin caregivers provide child care and to stimulate discussion about approaches for improving the quality of care that these caregivers offer. The study focused on how states define home-based care that is exempt from regulations for family child care, the kinds of requirements that states impose on license-exempt home-based caregivers who provide care for subsidized children, and the types of special initiatives, if any, that states fund to improve the quality of care that these caregivers offer to children.
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Systemic Approaches to Improving Quality of Care: QRS Gain Ground Across the Nation Language: English
Publisher: Child Care Bureau, U.S. Dept. HHS (Spring 2007)
Description: This issue of the Child Care Bulletin covers the growing trend in many states of aligning key indicators of quality to support quality improvement and engage parents in identifying and accessing quality care for their children. We describe the components that make up quality rating systems (QRS), examine current state efforts, and present an update on current and needed research.
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Teachers’ Interactions with Children to be the Critical Ingredient for Effective Pre-K Programs Language: English
Author: Mashburn, Andrew
Publisher: University of Virginia (2012)
Description: A new national study, led by University of Virginia researcher Andrew J. Mashburn, finds that early childhood programs will benefit children most when they experience instructionally and emotionally supportive interactions with their teachers. A paper on the findings of the study, which involved 2,439 children enrolled in 671 pre-k classrooms in 11 states, is in the just-released issue of the journal Child Development.
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Ten Important Questions About Child Poverty and Family Economic Hardship Language: English
Author: Cauthen, Nancy
Publisher: National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) (May 2008)
Description: This news brief child poverty and family economic hardship. Background information is provided along with ten questions and the answers about poverty and children.
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The 2007 Child Care Licensing Study Language: English
Publisher: National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (February 2009)
Description: The 2007 Child Care Licensing Study provides information collected in 2007 about child care licensing programs and policies and the regulations for child care centers, small family child care (FCC) homes, and large/group FCC homes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Licensing is a process administered by state governments that sets a baseline of requirements below which it is illegal for facilities to operate. States have regulations that include the requirements facilities must comply with and policies to support the enforcement of those regulations.
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The 2008 Child Care Licensing Study Language: English
Publisher: National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (May 2010)
Description: The 2008 Child Care Licensing Study provides information collected in 2008 about child care licensing programs and policies and the regulations for child care centers, small family child care (FCC) homes, and large/group FCC homes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Licensing is a process administered by state governments that sets a baseline of requirements below which it is illegal for facilities to operate. States have regulations that include the requirements facilities must comply with and policies to support the enforcement of those regulations.
This URL provides links to specific portions of the report rather than the full report.
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The Abecedarian Project: High-Quality Early Child Care Has Long-Lasting Effects Language: English
Author: Campbell, Frances
Publisher: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Univeristy of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (April 2012)
Description: Follow-up data from the Abecedarian Project indicate life-enduring benefits at age 30 for those participating in the high quality early child care intervention project as infant/toddlers/preschoolers.
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The Children of Immigrants Data Tool
Language: English
Publisher: Urban Institute (2010)
Description: This tool is a comprehensive interactive resource for exploring the lives of the nation's 16.4 million children with foreign-born parents. The online tool uses recent American Community Survey data and enables users to generate detailed charts of the characteristics of children age 0 to 17 nationwide and by state.
Users can create charts and tables featuring one or more of 21 demographic, social, and economic characteristics, including citizenship and immigrant status of children and their parents; children's race, ethnicity, and school enrollment; parents' education and English proficiency; and family composition, income, and work effort. The tables can be downloaded in Excel. To help improve the Data Tool, users can provide feedback by email or by completing the brief online survey at the end of a session.
A companion publication, "Children of Immigrants: National and State Characteristics," highlights key national data and variations across states, http://www.urban.org/publications/411939.html.
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The Costs of Disinvestment: Why States Can’t Afford to Cut Smart Early Childhood Programs Language: English
Publisher: Partnership for America's Economic Success The PEW Center (April 2010)
Description: The Partnership for America’s Economic Success has issued a new issue brief which argues that states can save money and stimulate their economies by protecting funding for effective pre-kindergarten and home visiting programs. The brief presents evidence showing that investing in early childhood programs is fundamental to achieving a globally competitive workforce and fiscal sustainability for states and the nation.
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The Early Care and Education Consortium Language: English
Publisher: Early Care and Education Consortium (April 2010)
Description: The Early Care and Education Consortium is a non-profit alliance of America's leading providers of quality early learning programs. Consortium members operate more than 7,500 licensed centers in every state, caring for and educating over one million children every day across the country. The Early Care and Education Consortium is an advocacy voice for child care providers as policies for child care and early learning develop and change across the country. The website provides up to date information about advocacy issues relating to early care and education.
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The Economic Research Service State Fact Sheets Language: English
Publisher: Economic Research Service-U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (January 2013)
Description: The Economic Research Service State Fact Sheets that contain frequently requested data for each state and for the entire United States. The sheets include current data on population, per-capita income, job earnings, poverty rates, employment and unemployment rates, farm and farm-related jobs, farm characteristics, farm financial characteristics, top agricultural commodities, top export commodities, and the top agricultural counties in sales.
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The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD): Findings for Children up to Age 4 1/2 Years Language: English
Publisher: National Institutes of Health (2006)
Description: This 62-page booklet describes the findings from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). The NICHD started the SECCYD in 1991 to collect information about different non-maternal child care arrangements, about children and families who use these arrangements and those who do not, and child outcomes. This booklet explains the Study's findings for children from birth to age 4 1/2 years.
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The Relationship Between Licensing and QRIS: Challenges and Opportunities Language: English
Author: Johnson-Staub, Christine
Publisher: CLASP (Sept 2011)
Description: This powerpoint pdf is an explanation of how child care licensing and QRIS interact and how CLASP can provide support in creating a high quality system in the states.
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Title I and Early Childhood Programs: A Look at Investments in the NCLB Era Language: English
Author: Ewen, Danielle
Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) (October 2007)
Description: This paper explores the wide range of ways in which school districts are using Title I funds for early education through kindergarten and examines how the implementation of NCLB has impacted those investments. It also makes recommendations for LEAs interested in creating Title I-funded early education programs or thinking about how to sustain these types of investments in the face of policy and funding challenges and provides recommendations for the reauthorization of NCLB.
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Transition and Alignment: Two Keys to Assuring Student Success Language: English
Publisher: Education Commission of the States (2010)
Description: The Obama administration is calling for more continuity across the education spectrum and providing funding opportunities for states, districts and schools to implement new policy and practice that builds linkages between levels of learning from preschool through higher education and workforce development.
This policy brief looks at Transition and Alignment — two key components for creating continuity across early learning and the early grades and provides examples of successful state efforts.
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Unequal Opportunities for Preschoolers: Differing Standards for Licensed Child Care Centers and State-Funded Prekindergarten Programs Language: English
Author: Kendall, Rosemary
Publisher: National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) (February 2009)
Description: This 2009 report compares state licensing regulations for center-based child care and early learning programs with standards for state-funded prekindergarten initiatives.
The report highlights the gap between state standards for child care and standards for state-funded prekindergarten. Differing standards for licensed child care centers and state-funded prekindergarten programs result in unequal opportunities for the majority of young children. Children in state-funded prekindergarten programs were more likely to be in classrooms that met NIEER benchmarks for quality than were children in center-based child care and early learning programs licensed by the states. The state in which a child lives, as well as the family’s income level, determines the child’s chances of benefiting from state-funded or federally-funded programs.
This page provides links to an online copy of the full report as well as the executive summary and state fact sheets.
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What Do We Know About the Impact of Publicly Funded Preschool Education on the Supply and Quality of Infant/Toddler Care? Language: English
Author: Ackerman, Debra
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (Jan 2009)
Description: This report reviews what is known about the impact of publicly funded preschool education on the supply of infant and toddler care, including: The availability and use of infant/toddler care; Influences on the supply of infant/toddler care and how today's supply compares to historic trends; and Potential links between preschool education policies and the supply and quality of infant/toddler care.
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What We Know and Don't Know About Measuring Quality in Early Childhood and School-Age Care and Education Settings Language: English
Publisher: Child Trends (May 2009)
Description: This issue brief draws on a review of the literature on QRSs and meetings of experts and stakeholders. This brief describes key themes from the meetings, then concludes with a description of follow-up steps Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation is taking in collaboration with partners to address the issues raised.
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Who's Caring for the Kids? Language: English
Author: Fowler, Susan
Publisher: McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership National-Louis University (Nov 2008)
Description: This report lays out the status of early care and education in Illinois in terms of the range of program options available; the demographics, qualifications, and compensation of the workforce; and the professional opportunities available to the workforce. The report concluded with five major findings and recommendations.
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Why Business Should Support Early Childhood Education Language: English
Author: Rocha, Elena
Publisher: Institute for a Competitive Workforce (2010)
Description: The business case for early education is further explained in a new report by the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The authors provide an overview of the short- and long-term impacts of high-quality early learning, including the financial return on public investments, and describe current challenges in funding, access and quality. The report also details business leadership activities in several states – Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota, California and Washington – aimed at advancing early childhood programs and outlines specific actions businesspeople and organizations can take to get involved.
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Work and Family: Introducing the Issue Language: English
Author: Waldfogel, Jane
Publisher: The Future of Children PRINCETON -BROOKINGS INSTITUTION (2011)
Description: This introduction to the journal includes an overview of the articles included in the journal, Work and Family. A group of experts was commissioned to write eight articles. The first article provides an overview of the demographic changes that set the stage for the current situation. The next four articles consider the challenges of employees who have care responsibilities for particular types of family members—young children, schoolaged children, children with special health care needs, and elderly relatives. The final three articles consider possible policy responses, focusing, respectively, on the role of employers, the role of government, and what other countries do.
The individual articles can be downloaded at http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/journals/journal_details/index.xml?journalid=76.
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Work-family Conflict: Look to Employers and Communities for Solutions (policy brief) Language: English
Author: Haskins, Ron
Publisher: The Future of Children PRINCETON -BROOKINGS INSTITUTION (2011)
Description: This policy brief provides an overview of the new journal from the The Future of Children entitled Work and Family. Work-family conflict promises to be on the nation’s agenda for policy development in both the public and private sectors for many years to come. In the near term, improvements are likely to be achieved primarily by voluntary changes in work policy by employers and by adaptations made by communities and families themselves.
The Journal may be located at http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/21_02_FullJournal.pdf.
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Young Child Risk Calculator Language: English
Publisher: National Center for Children in Poverty (2011)
Description: The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) has released an online tool, The Young Child Risk Calculator, which shows users how many children under age six in each state are experiencing serious risks to their development. The tool allows users to select from three age groups: 0-3, 3-5, and 0-6, as well as three economic and various other risk factors known to affect children’s development.
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Professional Development
Losing Ground in Early Childhood Education Language: English
Author: Herzenberg, Stephen
Publisher: Economic Policy Institute (2005)
Description: This study by the Economic Policy Institute and the Keystone Research Center analyzes data from 1979-2004 and shows a substantial decline in workforce qualifications in center-based early care and education (ECE) programs and the even lower qualifications in home-based ECE.
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State Child Care Assistance Policies 2010: New Federal Funds Help States Weather the Storm Language: Spanish, English
Author: Schulman, Karen
Publisher: National Women's Law Center (Sept 2010)
Description: A new report from the National Women's Law Center finds that ARRA/stimulus funds helped states avoid cuts to their child care assistance policies between 2009 and 2010. The report finds that most states did not have major changes in their child care assistance policies, including income eligibility limits, waiting lists, parent copayments, and reimbursement rates, despite cuts to other programs during the same time frame. However, now that states are beginning to exhaust these funds, child care assistance programs may be at risk of cuts without additional funding.
More
The Economic Research Service State Fact Sheets Language: English
Publisher: Economic Research Service-U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (January 2013)
Description: The Economic Research Service State Fact Sheets that contain frequently requested data for each state and for the entire United States. The sheets include current data on population, per-capita income, job earnings, poverty rates, employment and unemployment rates, farm and farm-related jobs, farm characteristics, farm financial characteristics, top agricultural commodities, top export commodities, and the top agricultural counties in sales.
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Programming Resource
A Guide to Calculating the Cost of Quality Early Care and Education Language: English
Author: Stebbins, Helene
Publisher: The Finance Project (May 2006)
Description: If you want to change the quality of early care and education, this brief outlines ways to achieve that goal. This brief takes a step-by-step approach to calculating the cost of quality early care and education and provides useful information to put a plan into action.
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A Guide to Transitional Child Care
Language: English
Publisher: National Network for Child Care (1993)
Description: Transitional Child Care (TCC) provides money to help working parents pay for child care. This program is an important part of the Jobs FIRST strategy to provide services that will help people find and keep jobs.
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Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning Language: English
Publisher: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1993)
Description: The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. CSEFEL is a national resource center funded by the Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau for disseminating research and evidence-based practices to early childhood programs across the country. Visit their Web site to learn more about their research and training.
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Child Care and Development Fund Report of State Plans for the Period 10/01/99 to 9/30/01 Language: English
Publisher: National Child Care Information Center (April 2001)
Description: This report is a summary of each state's plan to implement the Child Care and Development Fund. A 1996 law requires each state to submit an implementation plan.
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Child Care: State Efforts to Enforce Safety and Health Requirements Language: English
Publisher: United States General Accounting Office (2000)
Description: This GOA government report describes state efforts to abide by health and safety requirements for child care. It discusses state enforcement activities for child care health and safety such as background checks, inspection visits and sanctions.
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Child Care: State Requirements for Background Checks Language: English
Publisher: United States General Accounting Office (2000)
Description: This report expands on the information about background checks found in the report entitled "Child Care: State Efforts to Enforce Safety and Health Requirements." It provides detailed information about what type of background checks are required in each state for various types of child care providers.
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Child Trends Databank Language: English
Publisher: Child Trends (2008)
Description: The Child Trends Data Bank supports extensive listing of data related to child well-being. Data briefs are available on specific indicators of child well-being. Color graphics and tables can be downloaded directly into reports.
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Early Learning Standards Position Statement Language: English
Publisher: National Association for the Education of Young Children (2002)
Description: The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS/SDE) believe that early learning standards can be a valuable part of a comprehensive, high-quality system of services for young children. But we caution that early learning standards support positive development and learning only if they meet four elements that are described in detail in this position paper.
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Extending Home Visiting to Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers and Family Child Care Providers (Archived Webinar) Language: English
Author: Hoffmann, Elizabeth
Publisher: CLASP (April 2010)
Description: The archived webinar presented as PDF of the powerpoint presentation, provides findings regarding how major national models of home visiting include family, friend, and neighbor caregivers and family child care providers. The webinar also will review opportunities that result from serving family, friend and neighbor caregivers and family child care providers and will provide recommendations for states.
Full report available at: http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/homevisitingkinshipffn.pdf
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Extending Home Visiting to Family, Friend, and Neighbor Caregivers and Family Child Care Providers (report) Language: English
Author: Hoffmann, Elizabeth
Publisher: CLASP (April 2010)
Description: This report synthesizes interview findings and presents detailed considerations for implementing home visiting with kinship caregivers and FFN caregivers, including matters of curriculum, staffing, and service referral. It also discusses several opportunities that home visiting models identified that have resulted or could result from serving kinship caregivers and FFN caregivers, including serving more vulnerable children, promoting continuity for children, and expanding research and evaluation. This synthesis draws on descriptions of program models and practices where appropriate; additionally, four promising initiatives are profiled. Based on these findings, CLASP developed a set of recommendations for states and the federal government.
PDF of webinar on this topic available at: http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/home-visiting-ffn-fcc-webinar.pdf
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Improving Early Education Programs through Data-based Decision Making Language: English
Author: Riley-Ayers, Shannon
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (2011)
Description: While state-funded preschool programs have been growing, reliable guidance on how best to study program effectiveness remains limited. This working paper from NIEER presents five options for studying program effectiveness, summarizing each option in chart form and providing estimated costs for each evaluation.
The summary chart provides a quick glance at the research questions that each design addresses, a brief outline of the methodology, the main issues or concerns with the design, and the positive aspects of the design approach. An estimate of costs for each evaluation can be found in the full document.
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Serving Preschool Children Through Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Amended (Non-Regulatory Guidance) Language: English
Publisher: Dept. of Education (April 2012)
Description: US Department of Education posted revised non-regulatory guidance for districts and school using Title I Part A (Title I) funds to implement high-quality preschool programs in an effort to give clarity and guidance on how to use Title I funds to implement high-quality preschool programs for eligible children. The release continued on to say “The U.S. Department of Education is committed to improving the health, social-emotional, and educational outcomes for children from birth through third grade, and high-quality early learning programs are a critical component of our overall reform agenda”.
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Starting Early in the States: Applying the Lessons of Early Head Start Language: English
Author: Cochran, Moncrieff
Publisher: The Cornell Early Childhood Program, Cornell University (September 2006)
Description: This policy brief summarizes how current and emerging knowledge about the potential of Early Head Start can be applied to long-term planning for how states can best use federal and state resources to optimize the development of young children living in high-risk conditions. They summarize key lessons from the findings of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project and offer a conceptual framework for the design of comprehensive services for low-income families with infants and toddlers at the state and local levels.
Also provided are some specific guidelines for the planning and development of such a service system in a state, using New York as an example. The brief ends with a set of recommendations.
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Starting School at a Disadvantage: The School Readiness of Poor Children Language: English
Author: Isaacs, Julia
Publisher: The Brookings Institute (March 2011)
Description: The Brookings Institute recently published a new report, which shows that only 48% of poor children are ready for school at age five, compared to 75% of children from families with moderate and high income, a 27 percentage point gap. The paper discusses why poor children are less ready for school and evaluates three interventions that can improve their school readiness.
Preschool programs offer the most promise for increasing children’s school readiness, according to a simple simulation that models the effects of three different interventions. Expanding preschool programs for four-year olds has more direct effects on school readiness at age five than either smoking cessation programs during pregnancy or nurse home visiting programs to pregnant women and infants, the two other alternatives considered.
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State Program Quality Standards about Child Assessment Language: English
Publisher: Office of Child Care (March 2011)
Description: The purpose of this document from National Center on Child Care Quality Improvement, is to analyze the extent that State program quality standards include requirements or criteria pertaining to assessing children’s development. Three sets of States’ program standards were examined—state?funded preschool program requirements, quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) graduated program quality standards, and child care licensing regulations.
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SUMMARY OF TITLE I NON-REGULATORY GUIDANCE SERVING PRESCHOOL CHILDREN Language: English
Publisher: The Ounce & Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC at Chapel Hill (April 2012)
Description: This document provides a summary of the salient features of the new "Serving Preschool Children Through Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Amended (Non-Regulatory Guidance)".
The guidance in this document replaces previous non-regulatory Title I guidance on serving preschool age children beginning at birth. It addresses Title I requirements in the ESEA and answers questions raised by State Education Agencies (SEAs), and Local Education Agencies (LEAs or school districts), and other officials regarding using Title I funds to serve preschool children. Recipients of Title I funds may refer to this guidance when administering or operating preschool programs supported with Title I funds.
Original DE report can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/preschoolguidance2012.pdf.
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The New Mexico PreK Evaluation: Impacts From the Fourth Year (2008-2009) of New Mexico’s State-Funded PreK Program Language: English
Author: Hustedt, Jason
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (2010)
Description: The New Mexico PreK evaluation, from the 2008-2009 school year, finds positive impacts from the state-funded prekindergarten program for young children, consistent with previous findings. With statistically significant increases observed in vocabulary, math, and literacy scores for children participating in New Mexico PreK, the authors find New Mexico PreK is helping prepare young children for later school success. The New Mexico PreK initiative began in 2005 and has expanded rapidly. From the beginning, the National Institute for Early Education Research has been evaluating the program using the regression-discontinuity approach.
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The State of Preschool 2009 Language: English
Author: Barnett, W. Steven
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (2009)
Description: The 2009 State Preschool Yearbook is the seventh in a series of annual reports profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. State-funded preschool programs represent an important and sizeable component of the nation's patchwork of early childhood education programs. The National Institute for Early Education Research has developed the State Preschool Yearbook series to provide information on services offered through these programs to children at ages 3 and 4. We hope that this report will serve as a resource for policymakers, advocates, and researchers to make more informed decisions as state-funded preschool education moves forward.
Profiles are available for every state and access to an interactive dataset which allows the user to create their own data tables.
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The State of Preschool 2010 Language: English
Author: Barnett, W. Steven
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (2010)
Description: The 2010 State Preschool Yearbook is the eighth in a series of annual reports profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2009-2010 school year. The first report in this series focused on programs for the 2001-2002 school year and established a baseline against which we may now measure progress over nine years. Tracking these trends is essential, since changes in states' policies on preschool education will influence how successfully America's next generation will compete in the knowledge economy.
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The State of Preschool 2011 Language: English
Author: Barnett, W. Steven
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (2012)
Description: The 2011 State Preschool Yearbook is the newest edition of our annual report profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2010-2011 school year as well as documenting a decade of progress since the first Yearbook collected data on the 2001-2002 school year. Tracking these trends is essential to ensuring states prioritize early childhood education, which influences how successfully America's future generations will compete in a global knowledge economy.
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Where We Stand: Early Learning Standards Language: English
Publisher: National Association for the Education of Young Children (2009)
Description: The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS/SDE) believe that early learning standards can be a valuable part of a comprehensive, high-quality system of services for young children. But we caution that early learning standards support positive development and learning only if they meet four elements that are described in detail in the in “Early Learning Standards: Creating the Conditions for Success,”a joint position statement of NAEYC and NAECS/SDE (online at www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/learning_standards).
This news brief discusses the elements and how the states are doing in meeting these elements.
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Where We Stand: Learning to Read and Write Language: Spanish, English
Publisher: National Association for the Education of Young Children (2009)
Description: This NAEYC news brief discusses policies and resources that need to be provided in order to support children as they learn to read and write. To reach these outcomes, teaching practices must be appropriate and effective for young children, not just adaptations of what may work in the later grades. These practices must respond to young children’s changing developmental characteristics as well as to their culture, language, and individual learning needs. Teachers must be prepared to implement varied, research-based teaching methods that will help all young children gain competence in language and literacy.
Available in Spanish also at http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/WWSSLearningToReadAndWriteSpanish.pdf.
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Research
10 Years Post- Neurons to Neighborhoods: What’s at Stake and What Matters in Child Care? Language: English
Author: Phillips, Deborah
Publisher: University of California, Berkeley (October 19 2010)
Description: This is a transcript of the keynote address at the Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of CCDGB by Deborah Phillip. She reviews what has happened since the publishing of Neurons to Neighborhoods and highlights insights into what is truly at stake during the earliest years of life, what really matters in young children’s environments, and what are the long-term consequences are of ignoring this evidence.
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Assessing Initiatives for Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care: An Overview of Models and Evaluations Language: English
Author: Porter, Toni
Publisher: Child Care & Early Education Research Connections (March 2007)
Description: This paper presents an overview of current efforts to document or evaluate initiatives for family, friend, and neighbor child care. The initiatives are grouped into two categories, those that view these caregivers through the child care lens and aim to improve the quality of care that they provide to children; and those that see these caregivers and their care as a natural extension of the family and aim to strengthen it through approaches drawn from parent education or family support.
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Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning Language: English
Publisher: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (March 2007)
Description: The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. CSEFEL is a national resource center funded by the Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau for disseminating research and evidence-based practices to early childhood programs across the country. Visit their Web site to learn more about their research and training.
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Child care quality study: The impact of Head Start partnership on child care quality: Final report Language: English
Author: Schilder, Diane
Publisher: Education Development Center (2009)
Description: An examination of the influence of Head Start and child care provider partnerships on children’s outcomes and the quality of services provided, based on assessments of more that 600 children and surveys and observations of more than 200 child care centers and family child care providers in Ohio.
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Child Care: States Have Undertaken a Variety of Quality Improvement Initiatives, but More Evaluations of Effectiveness Are Needed Language: English
Publisher: United States General Accounting Office (September 2002)
Description: This report describes child care quality improvement measures adopted by 42 of the 50 states. It discusses the lack of evaluation of these improvements and some reasons why evaluation is not performed. The GAO recommends the Department of Health and Human Services include selected state quality improvement initiatives in a major impact evaluation of state child care subsidy strategies.
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Closing the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do Language: English
Publisher: National Scientific Council on the Developing Child Harvard University (Jan 2007)
Description: This 2007 publication from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child offers a concise, clear overview of the science of early childhood and brain development as it relates to policies and programs that could make a significant difference in the lives of children—and all of society. It includes discussion of seven core concepts of development and their implications for policy and practice
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Cost-Effective Investments in Children Language: English
Author: Isaac, Julia
Publisher: Economic Policy Institute (January 2007)
Description: This report identifies four areas of investment that merit expanded Federal funding. America's future economic well-being will benefit from targeted investments to ensure that children have the skills to become tomorrow's adult workers, caregivers, taxpayers, and citizens. Target areas for a package of proposals totaling approximately $25 billion annually and $133 billion over a 5-year period include the following: (1) high-quality ECE programs for 3- and 4-year-old children; (2) nurse home-visiting programs to promote sound prenatal care and healthy development of infants and toddlers; (3) school reform with an emphasis on programs in high-poverty elementary schools that improves the acquisition of basic skills for all students; and (4) programs that reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy.
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Demographics of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care in the United States Language: English
Author: Susman-Stillman, Amy
Publisher: National Center for Children in Poverty- Columbia University (August 2008)
Description: This research review brief provides an overview on family, friend, and neighbor child care in the U.S. It provides an definition of FFN care and answers questions about who is using this type of care and what the emerging themes are, related to this topic.
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Demographics of Family, Friend, and Neighbor Child Care in the United States Language: English
Author: Susman-Stillman, Amy
Publisher: National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) (August 2008)
Description: This research brief summarizes the literature review entitled Demographics of Family, Friend and Neighbor Child Care in the United States. It addresses demographic questions such as: What proportion of employed parents use FFN care? Do patterns of FFN use vary by the child’s age? Do patterns of FFN use vary by family characteristics, such as income level, ethnicity, and parent work schedule? What are the characteristics of FFN caregivers? This brief also describes methodological concerns (such as inconsistent definitions of FFN care and sampling challenges) and issues for further study.
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Disparities in Early Learning and Development: Lessons from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) (Executive Summary) Language: English
Author: Halle, Tamara
Publisher: Child Trends (June 2009)
Description: This executive summary provides brief information on a study looking at disparities in child outcomes as linked to very early life experiences.
This study finds disparities between poor, at-risk children and more advantaged children as early as 9 months of age—extending prior research that primarily focuses on disparities at kindergarten entry and beyond. The study by Child Trends was commissioned by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). It identifies low income and low maternal education as the factors most strongly associated with poorer cognitive, social-emotional, and health outcomes among very young children. It also finds that the more risk factors a child has, the more profound the disparities.
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Disparities in Early Learning and Development: Lessons from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) (Full Report) Language: English
Author: Halle, Tamara
Publisher: Child Trends (June 2009)
Description: The full report of this study finds disparities between poor, at-risk children and more advantaged children as early as 9 months of age—extending prior research that primarily focuses on disparities at kindergarten entry and beyond. The study by Child Trends was commissioned by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). It identifies low income and low maternal education as the factors most strongly associated with poorer cognitive, social-emotional, and health outcomes among very young children. It also finds that the more risk factors a child has, the more profound the disparities.
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Do Effects of Early Child Care Extend to Age 15 Years? Results From the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development Language: English
Author: Lowe Vandell, Deborah
Publisher: National Institute of Early Education Research (May 2010)
Description: This report from the NICHD child care study found that, although the effects were small, teenagers who had the higher quality care did better academically than those given low-quality care or no care outside the home. The study also found that the more time children spent in child care outside the home, the more they were likely to engage in risky or impulsive behaviors at age 15 regardless of the quality of early care they had received. Those effects were also relatively small, and benefits did not differ between advantaged and disadvantaged children. The study's finding of persistent effects is consistent with the results of NIEER's meta-analysis of the entire literature, but also reinforces the notion that intensive educational programs are required if preschool is to make a substantive difference in the poor achievement of disadvantaged children.
The study appears in Child Development.
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Do States Require Child Care Programs to Educate Children? Infant/Toddler Rules to Assure Early Education and Strong Relationships Language: English
Author: LeMoine, Sarah
Publisher: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (2004)
Description: A review of whether states mandate educational programs as part of their licensing regulations for full-time child care and preschool centers. Report #3 examines the baseline requirements that states require of all center programs that are permitted to care for infants and toddlers.
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Do States Require Child Care Programs to Educate Children?: Preschool and Child Care Center Rules. Language: English
Author: Morgan, Gwen
Publisher: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (2004)
Description: A review of whether states mandate educational programs as part of their licensing regulations for full-time child care and preschool centers.
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Do States Require Child Care Programs to Educate Children?: State Center Licensing Requirements for Child Development and Early Education Language: English
Author: Morgan, Gwen
Publisher: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting (2004)
Description: A review of states' licensing regulations for child care centers and analysis of states' requirements and intentions to include educational programs as a component of licensed child care.
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Dollars and Sense: A Review of Economic Analyses of Pre-K Language: English
Author: Wat, Albert
Publisher: Pre-K Now (May 2007)
Description: This review of research looks at studies that analyze the economic costs and benefits of investing in prekindergarten programs, particularly focusing on the policy-relevant features of the studies. This 2007 review of ten studies on the economic impact of pre-k demonstrated why a growing number of business leaders and economists are increasingly convinced that high-quality Pre-K is a sound investment.
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Early Head Start Research - Building Their Futures: How Early Head Start Programs are Enhancing the Lives of Infants and Toddlers in Low-Income Families Language: English
Publisher: Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start (Jan 2001)
Description: This is an article summarizing the highlights of the first main impact of findings from a national study conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. looking at Early Head Start programs. The study shows that after a year or more of program services, when compared with a randomly assigned control group, 2-year-old Early Head Start children performed significantly better on a range of measures of cognitive, language, and social-emotional development.
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Early Intervention on a Large Scale Language: English
Author: Rolnick, Arthur
Publisher: Economic Policy Institute (January 2007)
Description: This report states that tax dollars spent on early childhood development provide high returns compared with investments in the public, and even private, sector. Some of these benefits are private gains for the children involved in the form of higher wages later in life. The authors argue that the broader economy also benefits because individuals who participate in high-quality early childhood development programs have greater skills than they otherwise would. A child's quality of life and the contributions that child makes to society as an adult can be traced to his/her first years of life. Conversely, without support during these early years, a child is more likely to drop out of school, depend on welfare benefits, and commit crime.
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Enriching Children, Enriching the Nation: Public Investment in High-Quality Prekindergarten Language: English
Author: Lynch, Robert
Publisher: Economic Policy Institute (May 2007)
Description: This book compares the costs, fiscal, earnings, and reduced crime benefits of a hypothetical high-quality prekindergarten program for children from low-income families and a hypothetical high-quality universal prekindergarten program. The executive summary is available on the Web at www.epi.org/content.cfm/book_enriching#exec. State profiles are available on the Web at www.epi.org/books/enriching/states/all-states.pdf.
You may purchase the book at this url.
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Family Child Care in the United States Language: English
Author: Morrissey, Taryn
Publisher: Child Care & Early Education Research Connections (April 2007)
Description: A summary of a review of research studies examining family child care (FCC), addressing questions of FCC definitions, providers, users, and quality.
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Federal Expenditures on Elementary-Age Children in 2008 (Ages 6 through 11)
Language: English
Author: Vericker, Tracy
Publisher: The Urban Institute (March 2010)
Description: This report, focusing on elementary-age children, is one of a series of reports issued in the past few years on expenditures on children, looking at children overall (birth to age 18), infants and toddlers (birth to age 2), and pre-kindergartners and kindergartners (ages 3 to 5). The following estimates of how much of the federal budget was targeted toward elementary-age children in 2008 is based on budget data released in May 2009 and includes the effects of early responses to the 2008 recession.
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Federal Expenditures on Pre-Kindergarteners and Kindergarteners in 2008 (Ages 3 through 5)
Language: English
Author: Kent, Adam
Publisher: The Urban Institute (March 2010)
Description: This report, focusing on children ages 3 to 5, is one of a series of reports issued in the past few years on expenditures on children, looking at children overall (birth to age 18), infants and toddlers (birth to age 2), and elementary-age children (ages 6 to 11). In addition to baseline federal spending estimates, we also present state and local spending comparison estimates, along with projections on federal pre-kindergartner and kindergartner spending.
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Financing Quality Rating Systems: Lessons Learned Language: English
Author: Stoney, Louise
Publisher: United Way of America Success By 6 (September 2004)
Description: This report provides information about the costs associated with implementing a statewide quality rating system, ways to increase participation by programs and providers, and ways that states could link to funding sources. Some of the states included in the report are CO, KY, MT, NM, NC, OK, PA, TN, and VT.
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Home Visitation and Young Children: An Approach Worth Investing In? Language: English
Author: Astuto, Jennifer
Publisher: Society for Research in Child Development (2009)
Description: The Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) has published a new Social Policy Report. The report reviews studies of large, established home visitation program in the U.S. and discusses major concerns and current developments in the field of home visitation.
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How the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Grew: A Researcher's Tale Language: English
Author: Schweinhart, Lawrence
Publisher: Phi Delta Kappa Center for Evaluation, Development, and Research (June 2002)
Description: This article gives a brief overview of the history of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project and the outcomes of their research up to 2002.
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Investing in Young Children An Early Childhood Development Guide for Policy Dialogue and Project Preparation Language: English
Author: Naudeau, Sophie
Publisher: The World Bank (2011)
Description: The World Bank created this early childhood development (ECD) guide in response to growing demand from project managers for advice and support to facilitate the policy dialogue on the topic of ECD and to help clients make and implement relevant choices on how to best invest in ECD in the context of their country’s economy and national priorities. This guide fills a gap in the literature by (1) distilling existing information in a user-friendly format of short notes, (2) providing practical information on recently relevant ECD topics, such as measuring child development outcomes through the identification and adaptation of relevant instruments, conditional cash transfers for families with young children, and so on, and (3) assessing the quality of the latest evidence on each topic and identifying the knowledge gaps for which additional experimentation and evaluation are required.
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KIDS COUNT Language: English
Publisher: KIDS COUNT and Child Trends (2011)
Description: This Web site provides information about KIDS Count initiatives throughout the United States. KIDS COUNT is a program of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
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Meaningful Investments in Pre-K: Estimating the Per-Child Costs of Quality Programs Language: English
Author: Gault, Barbara
Publisher: Pre-K Now Pew Center on the States and The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (May 2008)
Description: This 2008 brief, written jointly with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, provides national estimates of the per-child costs – in adjusted 2007 dollars – of pre-k in diverse settings and at varying levels of teacher quality, class size, and hours per day. The estimates give a general
picture of the expected costs of quality improvements, though actual costs will differ from state to state. It examines the costs associated with quality in pre-kindergarten programs.
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Meeting the Challenge of Rural Pre‐K Language: English
Author: Smith , Matthew
Publisher: Pre-K Now Pew Center on the States (May 2008)
Description: This 2008 brief summarizes the challenges in providing pre-k in rural areas and proposes a
new federal investment to improve the availability of high-quality, voluntary pre-k for children living in rural America.
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Multiple Purposes for Measuring Quality in Early Childhood Settings: Implications for Collecting and Communicating Information on Quality Language: English
Author: Zaslow, Martha
Publisher: Child Trends, Inc. (May 2009)
Description: Within the broad context of interest in improving quality, this Issue Brief seeks to differentiate among a number of specific purposes for measuring quality in early childhood settings, and to identify the implications of these differing purposes for the careful and appropriate measurement of quality.
In this brief, we will:
• Review previous research that highlights the importance of identifying the purposes of measurement,
• Distinguish among different purposes for conducting assessments of quality in early childhood settings,
• Discuss the need for precaution when assessments seek to address multiple purposes at once, and
• Raise implications for developing future measures.
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National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education Language: English
Publisher: Institute of Education Sciences through the National Center for Education Research (May 2009)
Description: The National Center for Research on Early Childhood Educations (ncrece), based at the University of Virginia and directed by Robert Pianta, is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, to conduct research, disseminate research findings, and conduct leadership activities aimed at improving the quality of early childhood education across the United States. Researchers at University of Virginia, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of California-Los Angeles, and University of North Carolina-Greensboro lead the Center's work. The major activities of this Center include: Leadership Initiatives, Research, and Dissemination.
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New Beginnings: Using Federal Title I Funds to Support Local Pre-K Efforts Language: English
Author: Gayl, Chrisanne
Publisher: Pre-K Now Pew Center on the States (Sept 2009)
Description: This brief focuses on the use of federal Title I funds by LEAs to support pre-k programs. It summarizes the benefits of employing Title I dollars for this purpose, existing guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and examples of districts that are doing so successfully. In addition, the brief outlines issues for education leaders to consider in their planning and suggests ways to coordinate local initiatives with state pre-k programs.
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PK-3: An Aligned and Coordinated Approach to Education for Children 3 to 8 Years Old Language: English
Author: Bogard, Kimber
Publisher: Society for Research in Child Development (2005)
Description: The Social Policy Report discusses the need for alignment between and within pre-K and K-3 programs. Preschool is too often disconnected from the beginning of school, especially in regard to standards, curriculum, and developmentally informed and responsive instruction. We also need clearer criteria for success at each level. This article effectively reviews the literature documenting the important and often long-term effects of good preschool and uses that literature to discuss what a coordinated, aligned PK-3 curriculum should look like.
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Policy Matters: Setting and Measuring Benchmarks for State Policies: Improving the Readiness of Children for School: Recommendations for State Policy. Language: English
Author: Kagan, Sharon Lynn
Publisher: Center for the Study of Social Policy (Washington, D.C.) (2003)
Description: A presentation of a school readiness policy logic model, with recommendations and benchmarks for state policymakers in critical areas such as child care subsidies, licensing, accreditation, standards, assessment, professional development, systems development, facilities, capital investments, and kindergarten quality.
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Prepared for Kindergarten: What Does "Readiness" Mean? Language: English
Author: Ackerman, Debra
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (March 2005)
Description: This brief examines key issues for public policy related to school readiness, the relationship between school readiness and other factors in young children's lives, and challenges in readying children for kindergarten.
Studies have shown that teachers cite children's ability to communicate and pay attention as important factors of readiness while parents often concentrate on academic skills, such as counting to 20 or knowing letters, as being necessary for school readiness. How can we know that children are truly ready for school?
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Preschool Education and Its Lasting Effects: Research and Policy Implications Language: English
Author: Barnett, W. Steven
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (Sept 2008)
Description: This brief reviews the research regarding the short- and long-term effects of preschool education on young children’s learning and development. A detailed and comprehensive assessment of evidence yields conclusions and recommendations.
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Promoting Children's Social and Emotional Development Through Preschool Language: English
Author: Boyd, Judi
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (March 2005)
Description: This policy report describes the importance of social and emotional development of children, reviews the evidence that high-quality preschool can promote social and emotional development, and describes characteristics of programs most likely to benefit children.
Recommendations include establishing standards on the outcomes programs are expected to achieve for social and emotional development and expanding access to high-quality preschool programs.
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Public Investment in Children's Early and Elementary Years (Birth to Age 11)
Language: English
Author: Vericker, Tracy
Publisher: The Urban Institute (March 2010)
Description: In this brief, we look at public investments across age groups, from birth through the elementary years.
Key findings include the following: Total public investment grows substantially as children get older; States and localities spend more money than the federal government does on children, except when it comes to the youngest children; Key developmental needs, such as education and health care, are addressed to some extent by the federal government for each age group; Federal expenditures for children become less targeted or means tested (that is, based on income), as children get older.
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Quality in Early Childhood Care and Education Settings: A Compendium of Measures (2nd Ed.) Language: English
Author: Halle, Tamara
Publisher: Child Trends (March 2010)
Description: This report was written to provide a consistent framework with which to review the existing measures of the quality of early care and education settings. The aim is to provide uniform information about quality measures. It is hoped that such information will be useful to researchers and practitioners, and help to inform the measurement of quality for policy-related purposes. It provides info on tools currently being used to measure quality in ECE for various purposes, primarily for accountability and public policy. Cross references the measures for purpose and age, etc.
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Quality Rating and Improvement Systems for Early Care and Education Language: English
Publisher: Child Trends, Inc. (May 2010)
Description: This Child Trends research brief provides information on Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). Research suggests that high quality early care and education programs can have a significant impact on improving the cognitive, academic and social skills for all children, especially those most at risk for later school failure. A number of states are developing QRIS to assess and improve the quality of early care and education programs for children ages birth to five and older. Information includes what are essential elements of QRIS, evaluation of systems, connection to child outcomes, etc.
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School Readiness, Full-Day Kindergarten, and Student Achievement: An Empirical Investigation Language: English
Author: Le, Vi-Nhuan
Publisher: Rand Education (2006)
Description: This chapter presents a literature review of previous work on non-academic school readiness indicators and their relationship to student outcomes and the impact of full-day versus half-day kindergarten on student achievement and readiness skills.
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Taking Stock: Assessing and Improving Early Childhood Learning and Program Quality Language: English
Publisher: Foundation for Child Development (Oct 2007)
Description: This report by the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force provides recommendations for a state accountability system for early education programs for pre-kindergarten children and for linking such efforts to standards-based assessment efforts in kindergarten and the primary grades. The charge called upon the Task Force to review current state and federal initiatives, to provide guidance on tough issues and controversial questions, and to be forthright in recommending steps that states should and should not take as they embark on accountability and program improvement efforts.
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Tapping Title I: What Every School Administrator Should Know about Title I, Pre-K and School Reform Language: English
Author: Gayl, Chrisanne
Publisher: Pre-K Now Pew Center on the States (Jan 2010)
Description: This 2010 news brief provides basic information that superintendents, school board members and other district officials need to make informed choices about using Title I resources to support quality Pre-K programs.
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The Benefits and Costs of Head Start Language: English
Author: Ludwig, Jens
Publisher: Society for Research in Child Development (2007)
Description: This article reviews other high quality preschool programs in addition to data on the effect of Head Start and concludes, "There is an accumulating body of suggestive evidence that Head Start is capable of generating long-term benefits and passes a benefit-cost test, at least for children who participated during the first few decades of the program. For today’s Head Start, we have rigorous evidence of shortterm impacts from a recent experimental evaluation. In the author's viewpoint, "In our view the key questions for expanding early childhood education are how, how much, and how soon, rather than if."
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The Benefits of Prekindergarten for Middle-Income Children Language: English
Author: Schulman, Karen
Publisher: National Institute for Early Education Research & The Pew Charitable Trusts (March 2005)
Description: This policy report examines the importance of improving the school readiness of middle-income children and the role high-quality prekindergarten can play in helping ensure that more of these children enter kindergarten with the cognitive, social, and emotional skills they need.
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The Case for Investing in Disadvantaged Young Children Language: English
Author: Heckman, James
Publisher: First Focus (Sept 2008)
Description: This chapter in the report, Big Ideas for Children, Investing in Our Nation's Future, examines the origins of inequality and analyzes policies to alleviate it. Families play a powerful role in shaping adult outcomes. The accident of birth is a major source of inequality. Compared to 50 years ago, a greater fraction of American children are being born into disadvantaged families where investments in children are smaller than in advantaged families. Growing unassimilated immigrant populations in Western Europe create similar adverse trends there. Policies that supplement the child rearing resources available to disadvantaged families reduce inequality and raise productivity.
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The Dynamics of Child Care Subsidy Use: A Collaborative Study of Five States Language: English
Author: Meyers, Marcia
Publisher: National Center for Children in Poverty (July 2002)
Description: This report attempts to answer questions about who recieves child care subsidies and how they are used.
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The Economic Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Programs: What Makes the Difference? Language: English
Author: Galinsky, Ellen
Publisher: Families and Work Institute (February, 2006)
Description: The goal in writing this paper is to move the debates about high-quality early childhood programs beyond the boundaries where they have rested for years in order to trigger discussions across the country that address the following question: What can and should early childhood programs do to make a lasting difference in the lives of children, families and society and how can standards in early childhood education reflect these findings?
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The Economic Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Programs: What Makes the Difference? Language: English
Author: Galinsky, Ellen
Publisher: Families and Work Institute (February, 2006)
Description: The goal in writing this paper is to move the debates about high-quality early childhood programs beyond the boundaries where they have rested for years in order to trigger discussions across the country that address the following question: What can and should early childhood programs do to make a lasting difference in the lives of children, families and society and how can standards in early childhood education reflect these findings?
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The Economic Research Service State Fact Sheets Language: English
Publisher: Economic Research Service-U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (January 2013)
Description: The Economic Research Service State Fact Sheets that contain frequently requested data for each state and for the entire United States. The sheets include current data on population, per-capita income, job earnings, poverty rates, employment and unemployment rates, farm and farm-related jobs, farm characteristics, farm financial characteristics, top agricultural commodities, top export commodities, and the top agricultural counties in sales.
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The Foundations for School Readiness: Fostering Developmental Competence in the Earliest Years (Technical Assistance Paper No. 6) Language: English
Publisher: Early Head Start National Resource Center @ ZERO TO THREE (2003)
Description: This paper explores the scientific knowledge base concerning the remarkable developmental tasks that occur in the first 5 years of life. They identify the capacities that equip children with the skills they need to negotiate the relationships, responsibilities, and challenges they will face throughout their lives. It also illustrates how early childhood programs, beginning with support to expectant families during the prenatal period and through the first 5 years of life, can play a pivotal role in this process. In this paper, they explore school readiness to illustrate how early development influences later learning.
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The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood Language: English
Publisher: National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2010)
Description: The knowledge base summarized in this document presents a compelling rationale for fundamentally rethinking the health dimension of early childhood policy. A vital and productive society with a prosperous and sustainable future is built on a foundation of healthy child development. Health in the earliest years—beginning with the future mother’s well-being before she becomes pregnant—lays the groundwork for a lifetime of vitality. When developing biological systems are strengthened by positive early experiences, children are more likely to thrive and grow up to be healthy adults. Sound health also provides a foundation for the construction of sturdy brain architecture and the achievement of a broad range of skills and learning capacities.
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The Pre-K Pinch: Early Education and the Middle Class Language: English
Author: Wat, Albert
Publisher: Pre-K Now Pew Center on the States (Nov 2008)
Description: For far too many middle-class families, the very program proven to help all young children enter school ready to learn and succeed is beyond their reach. This report revealed that eligibility requirements and prohibitively high costs lead such families to sacrifice basic household needs to pay for early education and care for their children, or to settle for low-quality options with unproven benefits.
It then offers recommendations for policymakers to aid them in providing financial relief to middle-class families, stimulating our sputtering economy, ensuring the school readiness of the next generation, and building our nation’s human capital.
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The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children Language: English
Author: Heckman, James
Publisher: Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (Jan 2007)
Description: This article presents the case for investing more in young American children who grow up in disadvantaged environments. Adverse environments place children at risk for social and economic failure. This article argues that, on productivity grounds, it makes sense to invest in young children from disadvantaged environments. Substantial evidence shows that these children are more likely to commit crime, have out-of-wedlock births, and drop out of school. Early interventions that partially remediate the effects of adverse environments can reverse some of the harm of disadvantage and have a high economic return. They benefit not only the children themselves, but also their children, as well as society at large.
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The State of America's Children: 2010 Report Language: English
Publisher: Children's Defense Fund (May 2010)
Description: CDF's The State of America's Children 2010, is a compilation of the most recent and reliable national and state-by-state data on poverty, health, child welfare, youth at risk, early childhood development, education, family income and gun violence.
According to the CDF report, children in America lag behind almost all industrialized nations on key child indicators. The United States has the unwanted distinction of being the worst among industrialized nations in relative child poverty, in the gap between rich and poor, in teen birth rates, and in child gun violence.
Download sections in pdf by topic.
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Using Tax Credits to Promote High Quality Early Care and Education Services Language: English
Author: Stoney, Louise
Publisher: Partnership for America's Economic Success (November 2007)
Description: This paper explores the feasibility of using a market intervention--tax credits, linked to quality and accountability measures like a QRIS--to help promote and finance higher quality early care and education services.
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Who Goes to Preschool and Why Does it Matter? (Updated) Language: English
Author: Barnett, W. Steven
Publisher: NIEER (November 2007)
Description: This policy brief identifies factors that influence preschool enrollment, such as income, geography and ethnicity, and offers policy recommendations to address inequities in access.
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