The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) conducted a landscape evaluation of early childhood programs in Indiana (IN) between the spring of 2021 and the summer of 2022. Commissioned by Early Learning Indiana (ELI), this study provides Indiana programs and policymakers with research-based information on the quality of a sample of…

Children develop fastest in their earliest years, and the skills and abilities they develop in those years lay the foundation for their future success. Similarly, early adverse experiences can contribute to poor social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes both in early childhood and later life. Children who grow up in families…

Early years are a critical period for skill development. In this sense, the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) programmes have an important role in promoting children's learning during this period. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of ECEC programmes by analysing the relationship between students' ECEC attendance and their later…

This paper uses meta-analytic techniques to estimate the separate effects of the starting age, program duration, and persistence of impacts of early childhood education programs on children's cognitive and achievement outcomes. It concentrates on studies published before the wide scale penetration of state-pre-K programs. Specifically, data are…

In 2014-2015, children with delays or disabilities who received services under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) showed greater than expected developmental progress. Many children exited the program functioning within age expectations, and most made progress. States' Part C and Part B Preschool programs report data annually on three…

The question of how the U.S. will develop a citizenry with the skills necessary to meet the challenges of the 21st century has attracted the attention of legislators, scientists, and educators. Answering this question leads inevitably to its roots: how well are we preparing young children to enter kindergarten ready to learn? Educators in k-12…

Children from low-income families are more likely than those from higher income families to have poor social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes. One approach that has helped parents and their young children is home visiting, which provides information, resources, and support to expectant parents and families with young…

In Fiscal Year 2015-16, the California Children and Families Act has appropriated an average of $440 per child from the state tobacco tax revenue to support early development of children ages 0-5. Based on the proportion of live births in each county, First 5 Kern administered over $10 million of the state funding to support 41 programs in Child…

This report provides a summary of the Home Instruction of Parents with Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program activities and its effectiveness for Houston Independent School District (HISD) student participants. A total of 637 three to five-year children, along with their parents, participated in the HISD HIPPY program during the 2015-2016 academic…

Scientific discoveries indicated the importance of brain growth during the first 5 years of child life. To support early childhood development, California voter passed Proposition 10 in 1998 to collect a 50 cent per pack tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. Kern County Children and Families Commission (First 5 Kern) receives funding from…

Recess periods often lack the structure needed to support physical activity and positive social development (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2010). The Playworks program places full-time coaches in low-income schools to provide opportunities for organized play during recess and throughout the school day. Playworks activities are designed to engage…

This report presents findings from the two-year Minnesota Family Literacy and School Readiness study. It provides information on the impacts of participating Family Literacy programs and on the first and second cohorts of children (and their families) enrolled in these programs. The Minnesota Early Learning Foundation provided the Amherst H.…

Each week, nearly 11 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting for an average of 35 hours. Parents, as consumers of child care, equate a child care license with state approval--a gold seal for those businesses to which a state grants a license. Child Care Aware® of America reviews state licensing policies, which include…

MDRC is conducting the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project under a contract with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As part of the multisite Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, MDRC,…

Children living in poverty face considerable developmental risks. This report presents interim results from an evaluation of parental employment and educational services delivered within a two-generational, early childhood program targeting low-income families who are expecting a child or who have a child under age 3. This study is part of the…