Despite the relative increase in early care and education (ECE) investment over recent decades, access to infant and toddler care continues to be a hurdle for countless families across the nation. While access is a multifaceted issue, main contributors include a lack of available slots and the high cost of providing care to infants and toddlers.…

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) contracted with Child Trends in 2022 to conduct an independent evaluation of Parent Aware to explore its effectiveness in supporting the state's children, families, and early care and education (ECE) workforce. As part of this evaluation, the team at Child Trends conducted an analysis of Rating and…

Arkansas is implementing a partner-driven approach to build business knowledge and practices around basic principles of fiscal health for licensed and registered early childhood education (ECE) providers. The overarching goal of the initiative is to gather input from established ECE administrators and directors in centers and from owners of family…

In 2014, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) granted funds to establish Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCPs) to expand access to high-quality child care. Through these partnerships, EHS grantees partnered with center-based and family child care providers to implement EHS Program Performance Standards and provide…

The Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP) were developed to expand access to quality early childhood care and education programs for infant, toddlers, and their families. The EHS-CCP model includes partnering with child care centers and family child care homes to offer Early Head Start (EHS) "slots" for infants and toddlers…

Partnerships between Early Head Start (EHS)/Head Start and child care programs have existed for many years. In 2014, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) granted funds to establish Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCPs) with the goal of expanding access to high-quality early learning programs to meet the needs of…

This study asked how low-income children's access to early care and education (ECE) might differ from that of their higher-income peers and how child care subsidy policies might be helping to close the gap. This study used survey data from two National Survey of Early Care and Education surveys: the National Household Survey and the Center-Based…

For more than 20 years, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (United Way) has made high-quality early care and education a cornerstone priority of its investment strategy. United Way has also been a longtime champion of school readiness for the youngest children in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 1996, the organization joined…

The purpose of this series is to summarize key findings and implications from the Maryland Child Care Choices study, a longitudinal survey of parents who were applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in 2011. Families in the Maryland Child Care Choices study had at least one child age six or younger and lived in one of the…

The Minnesota Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) provides subsidies to help low-income families pay for child care while parents are working, looking for work, or attending school. The program can help make quality child care affordable and is intended both to support employment for low-income families and to support the development and…

Early life experiences are critical to a child's development. Research has shown that, for a variety of reasons, children born into low-income families are at a disadvantage when compared to their higher-income peers. Fortunately, research has also shown a positive association between high quality child care and the academic and social-emotional…

Since the first child care Quality Rating System (QRS) was implemented in Oklahoma 11 years ago (in 1998), 16 additional statewide systems have been launched and numerous states are piloting or developing a QRS (Zaslow, Tout, & Martinez-Beck, forthcoming). As QRS stakeholders across the nation look ahead to the next decade, it is important to take…

Measures of quality are now in widespread use across states as part of quality improvement initiatives. For example, many states are currently using global measures of quality that were first developed for research and practice purposes (such as the Environmental Rating Scales) in their Quality Rating Systems (QRSs). Although global quality…