For years, parents and policymakers have raised concerns about teacher shortages. These concerns escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic, amid reports of teachers leaving the profession, fewer new teachers entering, and schools struggling to hire teachers. The Explanatory Statement accompanying the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020…

The Build Back Better (BBB) framework would create an ambitious $400 billion early childhood initiative -- funding both universal prekindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds and initiatives designed to improve affordability, quality, and compensation within the child care arena. On November 19, 2021, The Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376) was passed in…

As of June 2020, it is still too early to know how state early childhood systems will be permanently changed by the COVID-19 crisis. But the need for early childhood data is not new to the pandemic and recovery. States can benefit from data to better understand the landscape of local early childhood services--and about resources needed to help…

For children, the earliest years are critical for healthy brain development and lay the groundwork for future educational achievement, economic productivity, and lifelong health. Equitable access to affordable, high-quality, and culturally responsive child care and early learning opportunities can be life changing, shaping the trajectories of the…

This report calls upon Michigan's state leaders to quickly develop and implement solution-based approaches to both support the long-term recovery of student learning, as well as address the longstanding inequities and underperformance that have plagued Michigan's education system for decades. Building upon last year's recommendations, which called…

Decades of research have provided strong evidence of what an integrated early childhood system should look like. Several groups, including the Alliance for Early Success, have outlined research-backed state and local policies that can move systems closer to meeting this goal. In fact, many states and communities across the country have already put…

This 2010 report looked at how Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) used local and federal dollars to craft, implement and improve a system-wide education reform strategy built on a foundation of providing high-quality pre-k education. School officials, state and federal policymakers alike will benefit from learning about the trail that MCPS…

The historical development of early childhood music education (ECE) in Kenya reveals the challenging circumstances under which it has, and continues, to progress. Poverty remains the most formidable hindrance to the success of this area of education. Multiculturalism, the mosaic that defines Kenya's rich heritage, also demands ingenuity from…

This paper presents a model of the approaches open to government to ensure that early childhood services are affordable to families. We derived the model from a comparative literature review of affordability approaches taken by government, both in Australia and internationally. The model adds significantly to the literature by proposing a means to…

This study presents the most comprehensive picture, to date, of public investments in the education and development of children by three age groupings--the early learning years (roughly 0-5), the school-aged years (roughly 6-18), and the college-aged years (roughly 19-23). It is based upon detailed analysis of state, federal, and school district…

This document, British Columbia's Early Learning Framework, is intended to guide and support early childhood educators, StrongStart BC facilitators, early years professionals, service providers, communities and governments in providing rich early learning experiences for children from birth to kindergarten. The document may also be of interest for…

The "new federalism" paradigm offers an explanation why the federal government has devolved much of its administration of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, formerly AFDC) and Medicaid (through managed care) programs. A review of child and family outcomes data resulting from these devolutionary changes in TANF and…