This issue brief is one in a series examining timely topics that are relevant to Black families and children in the United States. The series identifies key information and opportunities for consideration by policymakers, researchers, practitioners, philanthropists, and others interested in supporting the progress of Black families and…

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the primary source of federal funding for child care subsidies for low-income families and to improve child care quality for all children. Quality child care enables parents to work or go to school while providing children with safe and enriching environments where they can learn and thrive.…

How can local education agencies (LEAs), elementary schools, and teachers make sure the kindergarten year deepens and builds on children's previous learning? What are the best ways to keep children and families connected to school and engaged in learning? And how can LEAs, schools, and classroom teachers provide the smoothest transition possible…

Quality child care enables parents to work or go to school while also providing young children with the early childhood education experiences needed for healthy development. The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the primary federal program that provides funding for child care assistance for low-income working parents. Child care…

Early care and education providers are subject to monitoring by multiple agencies and organizations. In this brief provides an overview of monitoring and the major early care and education monitoring systems. It then offers possible goals for a coordinated monitoring system and describes some approaches to addressing those goals. Eleven dimensions…

Public spending on children represents an effort to invest in the nation's future by supporting children's healthy development and human potential. To inform policymakers, children's advocates, and the general public about how public funds are spent on children, this 15th edition of the annual "Kids' Share" report provides an updated…

Homelessness is a reality for many families with young children in our country. In 2015, a third of all people who stayed in a shelter were in families with children and nearly half of children served by HUD-funded emergency/transitional housing providers in 2015 were age five or younger (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),…

This document records testimony from a hearing before the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education that was held to discuss the effectiveness of early childhood education programs. During the hearing, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified on their new report which finds the federal government provides…

In this article, Ajay Chaudry and Heather Sandstrom review research on child care and early education for children under age three. They describe the array of early care and education arrangements families use for infants and toddlers; how these patterns have changed in recent decades; and differences by family socioeconomic status, race, and…

This paper examines the U.S. social insurance system, which we define broadly to include both programs supported by dedicated taxes and other federal programs that provide income support, assistance in meeting basic needs, or services to improve economic opportunity. The paper considers the social insurance system as a whole as well as its…

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation's (OPRE's) Division of Child and Family Development (DCFD) is responsible for research and evaluation related to Head Start programs, early childhood development, childcare, child maltreatment, and child welfare services. OPRE's research in the area of child and family development focuses on young…

Nearly 7 years into the recovery from the Great Recession, two glaring problems remain in the U.S. economy. One is a significant slowdown in the growth of productivity (the amount of output and income generated in an average hour of work). The other is the destructive rise in income inequality in recent decades due largely to big corporations and…

Homelessness is a reality for many families with young children in the country. In fact, infancy is the period of life when a person is at highest risk of living in a homeless shelter in the United States (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 6th Annual Homelessness Report, 2012). Every day more and more Americans understand…

This tool was prepared for the Early Learning Challenge (ELC) States that attended the Peer Learning Exchange, "Financing and Sustaining Quality Programs and Systems," in October 2017. This Peer Learning Exchange was a collaborative effort by Early Learning Challenge Technical Assistance (ELC TA,) Center on Enhancing Early Learning…

In the United States, public policy and expenditure intended to improve the prospects of children from low-income families have focused on better preparing children for school through Head Start and universal pre-K. This school readiness approach differs from the dominant model of public support for early care and learning in Northern Europe,…