Recent policy proposals call for significant new investments in early care and education (ECE). These policies are designed to reduce the burden of child care costs, support parental employment, and foster child development by increasing access to high-quality care, especially for children in lower-income families. In this paper, we propose and…

The "Integrated Approaches to Supporting Child Development and Improving Family Economic Security" project was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research and Northwestern University for the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human…

A large body of evidence indicates that socioeconomic status (SES) is a strong predictor of school achievement, college graduation and child outcomes in general. Better developmental and health outcomes are strongly associated with family assets, income and education. We introduce a model incorporating a range of theoretical and empirical…

Researchers often compare the relationship between an outcome and covariate for two or more groups by evaluating whether the fitted regression curves differ significantly. When they do, researchers need to determine the "significance region," or the values of the covariate where the curves significantly differ. In analysis of covariance (ANCOVA),…

In this paper, the authors propose one model for an institution-specific analysis which they then apply to the study of their home institution, Mount Holyoke College. The paper advances their understanding of the determinants of study abroad in two important ways. First, it shows that going beyond descriptive statistics and simple correlations and…

This paper develops a theoretical framework for examining how families interact with the society under conditions in which the expectations for sex roles are changing. The difference between mandated and voluntary change is examined and the cost-benefit ratio to families for participating in the process of change is evaluated in different…

The relationship between college costs and family income is examined, along with the debt burden incurred by students while pursuing a postsecondary education. Attention is directed to an analytical model of discretionary income, the families' current income and college costs and how these have changed over the last decade, and general empirical…

Explains economists' general approach to family behavior and describes how that framework is useful for thinking about families and children. Outlines how economists model parental investment in children. Examines the implications of approach for developmental science. Illustrates this approach using the example of the involvement of children and…

Jobs for the Future (JFF) has identified the following best practice programs that support what is known to work best in moving women into family-supporting employment: (1) Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas, trains welfare recipients to work as sheet metal assemblers while providing a support services counselor and support for child care…