Since 2022, the District of Columbia has invested in the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund to achieve pay parity between early childhood educators and their K-12 counterparts. Research to date has shown that the fund has many benefits, such as increasing retention of qualified educators and improving the quality of care. Beginning in fiscal…

States, systems, and colleges in the Great Lakes region have made important investments in basic needs, but more progress is needed. Addressing basic needs--which includes income, food, housing, health, mental health and well-being, child care, transportation, and technology--helps support college access and completion. The Urban Institute…

Food insecurity is associated with poorer educational outcomes across the education spectrum. At the K-12 level, receipt of food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps) or through universal school lunch is associated with positive, if small, effects on student outcomes. Little is…

This brief summarizes early educators' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, including changes in employment and wages, supports they received, and challenges they faced. The findings come from a survey of early educators working in licensed child care facilities in the District of Columbia in early 2021. The survey is part of the larger DC…

The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program was launched as an effort to address the loss of access to free and reduced-price school meals due to widespread school closures at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools reopened in a shifting mix of fully virtual, hybrid, and in-person formats and families lacked consistent access…

Children of immigrants will make up a critical share of our nation's future workforce, but they are less likely than other children to participate in early education programs known to support school readiness and long-term productivity. This study describes the characteristics and enrollment of children of immigrants using the most current and…

The ECE workforce experiences high levels of stress, partly because they have low incomes and limited access to professional and personal supports for their own well-being. In addition, the ECE workforce experiences sociopolitical stressors (i.e., stressors that arise from political legislation or from political leaders' threatening rhetoric).…