The University of Minnesota's Birth to Three Clinic has adopted a holistic approach to supporting children's needs within an attachment-focused, trauma-informed, and neurodevelopmental framework rooted in the DC:0-5™ classification framework. This clinical framework of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) assessment has been applied in…

Integrating data across early childhood programs allows program staff and administrators, policymakers, and researchers to have a comprehensive picture of early childhood programs. While some states have taken significant steps to integrate data across many early childhood programs, home visiting data have seldom been included in these data…

In 2021, Baby's Space became a Community Resource Hub. Funded by Minnesota's federally-funded Preschool Development Grant (PDG), the Community Resource Hubs help pregnant and parenting families with children under age 9 connect with needed resources. Baby's Space: A Place to Grow is a child development center that works to create a cycle of…

Sharing and integrating data across the variety of public systems, including public health insurance, child care subsidies, and food assistance, accessed by children and families is crucial to providing decision-makers with complete and accurate information that they can use to shape and improve services. This brief highlights projects implemented…

This article describes some of the remarkable accomplishments of the states that have participated in the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Financing Policy Project (IECMH-FPP). The purpose of the IECMH-FPP is to support states' advancement of IECMH assessment, diagnosis, and treatment policies that will contribute to the healthy…

Many states are building systems and structures to integrate their early care and education data. Combining data from different programs and agencies that serve young children allows policymakers and program decision makers to better answer critical questions about the needs of families in their communities, as well as questions about services and…

This resource was prepared in response to a request for information from a Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) State about which RTT-ELC States are using the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children. The State also requested information about other projects States have designed to…

The Early Learning Challenge (ELC) program awarded more than $1 billion in four-year grants to 20 States to implement comprehensive and cohesive high-quality early learning systems that support young children with high needs and their families. A key lever in making these improvements was the enhancement of States' Quality Rating and Improvement…

This summary presents highlights of the "Minnesota Early Childhood Risk, Reach, and Resilience Report." The report describes potential risks to the healthy development of young children and the extent of coverage of publicly-funded services to meet their early learning, health, and basic needs. It also includes new and emerging…

In 2009, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) adopted a new policy statement on early childhood education. Based on the work of a task force of 13 chiefs, "A Quiet Crisis: The Urgent Need to Build Early Childhood Systems and Quality Programs for Children Birth to Age Five" presents a compelling argument for why public…

Nature education is an important part of early childhood education. As young children develop, the natural world offers concrete and authentic learning experiences. Activities focused on nature support learning in all developmental domains. Children develop physically through hiking in natural terrain, climbing hills and trees, balancing on logs,…

This summary provides highlights from a report that describes potential risks to the healthy development of young children and the extent of coverage of publicly-funded services to meet their early learning, health, and basic needs. The report is the first attempt in Minnesota to describe indicators of early childhood development county by county.…

This paper presents several facts about the early care and education in Minnesota. These facts are organized according to the following topics: (1) Children age 5 and younger in Minnesota; (2) Number of early care and education programs and providers; (3) Children ages 0-2 and 3-5 enrolled in quality early childhood programs; (4) Number of…

Describes Minnesota's Preschool Screening program, the first to offer free, voluntary health and developmental screening for state preschoolers, and a related Early Childhood Assessment project to deal with inconsistencies in diagnostic referral rates among school districts. Questions test validity, reliability, and standardization samples and…

This brochure presents indicators and strategies for Minnesota's early childhood system. It was created for the following uses: (1) Focus resources, strategies, and accountability to increase family and child well-being and children's school readiness; (2) Help coordinate activities across state departments, hold government accountable, and…