Completed Early Care & Education Projects

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEAD START QUALITY RESEARCH CENTER (HSQRC)

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WASHINGTON STATE'S EARLY LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT BENCHMARKS

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GROWING UP IN POVERTY (GUP)

To learn how children's environments are changing under welfare reform, the Center, in collaboration with researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, launched this three-year longitudinal study. With detailed information collected from mothers in California, Connecticut, and Florida, the team is investigating the impact of welfare reform on the expansion of the child care system over time; access to and use of state-level assistance by mothers; changes in children's social environments; and the effect of changes in home and child care settings on children's early development and learning. This project will provide empirical data needed to modify federal and state welfare reforms, focusing primarily on the federal reauthorization of welfare reform legislation, as well as early care and education public policy.|

Funding Sources: Child Care Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education; David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Spencer Foundation; Annie E. Casey Foundation; A.L. Mailman Family Foundation; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund; Miriam and Peter Haas Fund; Walter and Elise Haas Fund; California Department of Social Services
Contact: Sharon Lynn Kagan, Ed.D.

CHILD CARE RESEARCH AND POLICY PROJECT

Communication between researchers and policy makers is essential to ensuring that the needs of children and families remain high on legislative agendas. The goals of this project, a collaboration of the Center, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, are to facilitate communication between child care researchers and those who influence policy and to improve dissemination of research to policy makers. As part of this work, the Center will produce four policy briefs on key topics in child care: cost-effective investments in early care and education; the effects of professional development efforts and compensation on quality of services; the effects of regulation on child care quality; and infant and toddler care. The Center will also help to organize seminars to discuss child-care research at national meetings of policy makers and child care and early education officials. This project will provide policy makers with a strong base of empirical knowledge as they make decisions that profoundly affect the lives of children and families.

Funding Source: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Contact: Sharon Lynn Kagan, Ed.D.

SYNTHESIS AND PROFILE OF EARLY EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH INITIATIVES (SPEED)

This project synthesizes findings from selected contemporary large-scale, federally funded initiatives on young children's health, development, and education, as well as selected privately funded initiatives in order to expand knowledge and transform current thinking on early childhood education and development. Initiatives include major longitudinal studies of children and their families and major demonstration programs assessing effectiveness of services for young children. SPEED will not only inform researchers of key methodological issues, but also provide tailored summary reports to policy makers, service providers, community school districts, community health districts, and parents to assist in their decision-making.

Funding Sources: National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education, U.S. Department of Education; NICHD Family and Child Well-Being Research Network; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Contact: Christy Brady-Smith, Ph.D.