Access to early child education services has been proven to be an efficient tool in fighting educational inequalities. However, while wealthier families are likely to use childcare services, disadvantaged children tend to be left out. Research has explained this effect, known as Mathew Effect, and has studied both the constraints in the…

Center-based early care and education (ECE) is important for promoting positive early development and supporting families by providing child care so parents can work. However, the center-based supply varies substantially in terms of funding sources, indicators of quality, and services offered; and many families experience a lack of equitable…

New Hampshire families have not been exempt from the disruptions and challenges associated with an enduring pandemic, including disruptions to their children's care and education arrangements, pressure on household budgets due to rising inflation, and challenges of meeting children's emergent social, emotional, and physical needs amid persistent…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care, requires states to use information about the provider cost of child care to inform the setting of payment rates under the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) program. This requirement is consistent with the growing recognition that…

Background & Context: Accurate, reliable, and scalable measurement of classroom quality is critical to ensure that children benefit from early childhood programs. Early childhood classroom quality is most commonly measured using classroom observation tools serving multiple purposes including (1) teacher support (e.g., coaching, professional…

This report provides a summary of the full "First Look" report, which presents data on the early childhood care and education arrangements for children in the United States from birth through the age of 5 who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten by 2019. The report also presents data on selected family activities. These data represent…

The Commonwealth has the second most expensive child care market in the United States. Families routinely pay upwards of $20,000 a year for care for their young children. However child care workers make very low wages and are leaving the workforce in droves because they can make more at other jobs. Child care providers are struggling to keep their…

The most recent version of the Build Back Better (BBB) Act includes historic investments in child care and preschool totaling $390 billion. These investments create a child care entitlement for most children from birth through age five and universal pre-kindergarten for three- and four-year-olds, which would provide significant increases to access…

The Build Back Better Act (BBB) will provide significant transformative funding to support the fragile child care and pre-kindergarten (pre-K) sectors and more equitably serve America's children, families, and child care workers. In Understanding the Child Care and Pre-K Provisions in the Build Back Better Act, the Center for Law and Social Policy…

During a time of historic COVID-related federal investment in child care and early education, states are working to leverage this opportunity to provide significant relief and recovery to providers and families. This fact sheet highlights the actions that select states have implemented to make the most of this critical time and opportunity. As…

This report presents data on the early childhood care and education arrangements for children in the United States from birth through the age of 5 who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten by 2019. The report also presents data on selected family activities. These data represent circumstances before the implementation of coronavirus pandemic…

The affordability of licensed early childhood education and care (ECCE) remains a perennial policy issue in Oklahoma as well as in other states. Stakeholders in the public and private sectors aim for an adequate supply of quality ECCE providers that is accessible to the families who need care. At the same time, these stakeholders recognize that…

Policymakers, child care providers, and parents face tradeoffs in determining how much to spend on child care, including how many hours to purchase, and the features of programs that might influence quality. Given these tradeoffs, it is useful to understand what constitutes quality, the cost of care features associated with quality, the effects of…

This report provides a descriptive comparison of the early care and education (ECE) landscape across rural, moderate-density urban (suburban), and high-density urban areas. The goal of this comparison was to understand whether ECE availability and characteristics in rural areas differ from those in more densely populated communities. We used…

Early care and education (ECE) programs for children prior to kindergarten in California are provided through a mixed delivery system that includes licensed home- and center-based programs as well as school settings. The requirements, experience, and supports for educators vary widely across settings, depending more on funding sources and…