The COVID-19 pandemic brought the care crisis in the United States to the fore. Unprecedented closures of child care programs throughout 2020 placed a disproportionate burden on families, and mothers in particular. For parents enrolled in college or considering postsecondary enrollment at the time of the pandemic, the loss of child care services…

Recent studies have focused on predictors of exclusionary practices in early childhood, but few have examined what happens after a child is removed from care. Families' difficulty finding new care is complicated by the shortages of convenient, affordable and quality childcare in the United States. Using online surveys, we gathered data from…

This brief highlights key findings from the implementation of the TechHire and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) programs and offers considerations for practitioners. The programs provided training for high-tech jobs as well as support services to people with barriers to training and employment. Presented especially for a…

The Child Care Apprenticeship Program of Pinellas (CCAP) was created by an advisory committee made up of local childcare facility directors, in 1989, in response to the need for better training in the community. CCAP is a two-year program that emphasizes 4000 hours of on-the-job-training and 288 hours of classroom instruction credentialing working…

Children learning two languages (Dual Language Learners; DLLs) represent a rapidly growing population in the United States. DLLs are disproportionately more likely to live in families of low socioeconomic status (SES), which places many of them at risk for poor dual-language outcomes. To date, most studies on SES and dual language development have…

Promoting family economic security and mobility requires collaboration across key systems that serve families. This report describes opportunities for the early childhood and higher education systems to support each other's key goals for system advancements to increase economic mobility among America's families. It provides examples of early…

While COVID-19 is capable of infecting anyone, the level of risk is far from equal. Data show that Black and Latino communities, already suffering from deep-rooted economic and health inequalities, have borne the brunt of the pandemic. Latinas, in particular, have suffered some of the most egregious economic and health disparities over the past…

A barrier that students and mid-career professionals often face in attempts to advance their education level is that the coursework completed and credits earned in one institution of higher education (IHE) may not transfer to another. To address this issue, states have developed a variety of articulation policies and agreements to facilitate the…

This volume contains the technical appendices for "Higher Education Articulation Agreements: A Study of State Policies Covering the Early Care and Education Workforce." The study provides an in-depth examination of how six states and their institution of higher educations (IHEs) have implemented articulation policies that include…

A barrier that students and mid-career professionals often face in attempts to advance their education level is that the coursework completed and credits earned in one institution of higher education (IHE) may not transfer to another. To address this issue, states have developed a variety of articulation policies and agreements to facilitate the…

Most early educators are paid less than $15 per hour, and many of them report high levels of economic insecurity evidenced by their worry about meeting monthly family expenses or paying for bare necessities such as food and housing. Coupled with low wages, few early educators can expect to work in settings that provide basic professional supports…

This educational white paper is being written in the wake of school closures resulting from the CoVid-19 pandemic. As the necessity for distance learning has become apparent in order to reduce the spread of CoVid-19, the burden of the education of school children has shifted from teachers to parents. In this white paper, the author examines the…

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)--a strategy to improve families' access to high-quality child care--assess the quality of child care programs, offer incentives and assistance to programs to improve their ratings, and give information to parents about the quality of child care. These systems are operating in a growing number of…

This article reports on the first Florida statewide assessment of the Gold Seal Quality Care program, accreditation, and the relationship with licensing violations. This study analyzed the differences between the Department of Children and Families Gold Seal-Accredited facilities and nonaccredited facilities by comparing the facilities and the…

Objective: To describe and compare obesity prevention practices related to physical activity and beverages in home- and center-based child care programs. Methods: A telephone survey of licensed home- and center-based child care programs in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Washington between October and December 2008. Results: Most programs…