Early Care and Education

NCCF Researcher Rebecca Ryan at a Head Start Research Conference, Washington, D.C.

Research has shown that early childhood education has a positive impact on the lives and academic performance of young children. Yet early care and education services are in short supply and only a small percentage of programs provide the kind of high-quality care that produces the best outcomes for children.
Moreover, the care that currently exists, especially for infants and toddlers, is not affordable for many young families who are in
the early stages of their careers.

Work in early care and education concentrates
on the analysis of relationships among the supply, quality, and affordability of child care and early education services in the United States. It also examines the impacts of various prevention
programs and interventions, such as Early Head
Start and Welfare Reform, on children, families,
and the supply and quality of services.

Current Projects:

- National Evaluation of the Early Head Start Programs
- The Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP):
An 18-Year Follow-Up
- New York City ACS/DOE Uniform Performance Measurement System
- Child Care Subsidy Use Among Low-Income Working Families in New York City
- Early Childhood Workforce and Models of Individual Professional Certification

Completed Early Child Care Projects
- Columbia University Head Start Quality Research Center (HSQRC)
- Washington State's Early Learning and Development Benchmarks