In 2018, the District of Columbia ("the District") City Council passed the Birth-to-Three for All DC Act (B-3 Act), a groundbreaking policy package designed to strengthen early care and education (ECE) for infants and toddlers. A central component of the B-3 Act is the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund (the Fund), a groundbreaking…

Background: More than 20 million children in the United States lack access to primary health care. Practice Learning: Research shows that students with regular access to physical and mental health services have fewer absences, are more social, less likely to participate in risky behaviors, have improved focus and higher test scores. Implication…

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the roles of risk perceptions and efficacy beliefs play in predicting emerging adults' health insurance information seeking behavior based on the risk perception attitude (RPA) framework. In addition, the current study tests a role of worry to elucidate an underlying mechanism of their health…

Parenting students work hard every day to pursue their goals, often juggling work, classes, and caregiving responsibilities. Public systems and programs can provide critical support, but frequently create additional hurdles for parenting students and their families-- especially those with low incomes. In 2022, the Center for the Study of Social…

Early care and education (ECE) is complex, highly skilled, emotionally and physically demanding work for which educators deserve to be adequately rewarded. California's early educators often exceed the minimum educational requirements for their jobs. More than one half of both center- and home-based educators hold an associate degree or higher…

Ontario's colleges are committed to providing students of all backgrounds with a rewarding postsecondary experience that prepares them for long-term success in their careers. In recent years, colleges have expanded their global outreach as greater numbers of international students enrol in Ontario. The province is a recognized world leader in…

The University System of Georgia (USG) has a state-wide initiative aimed at increasing the well-being of faculty and staff by incentivizing a decrease in tobacco product usage by employees covered by a USG healthcare plan. This incentive is positive in that aid in stopping tobacco product usage is offered to each member; and negative in that each…

In the years after the Great Recession, data on children and families in America showed steady improvement in economic well-being, education and health, although progress in some areas had plateaued, and racial and ethnic disparities persisted. Then the coronavirus hit. The events of 2020 have exposed holes in the safety net of programs and…

To help states retain teachers and recruit the next generation into the profession, this brief examines teacher compensation policies in states and how adjustments could help reverse teacher shortage trends. The report looks at teacher compensation packages as a whole, including data on salary, health insurance, retirement and other benefits. It…

This dissertation consists of three independent chapters in applied microeconomics. In the first chapter, I study the causal effect impact of early life circumstances on adult psychological well-being using the property reform in China as a positive and policy driven change in economic resources in early life. Exploiting the staggered adoption of…

The 35th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's "KIDS COUNT"® Data Book examines the unprecedented declines in student math and reading proficiency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on education. The latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress reveals that between 2019 and 2022, fourth-grade reading…

This article defines the concept of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) and describes how it provides the foundation for lifelong health and well-being. The authors provide policy recommendations that include the need to: (a) establish cross-agency leadership for IECMH, (b) ensure Medicaid payment for IECMH services, (c) invest in…

Publicly funded adult health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has had positive effects on low-income adults. We examine whether the ACA's Medicaid expansions influenced child development and family functioning in low-income households. We use a difference-in-differences framework that exploits cross-state policy variation and focus…

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on Latino children's health and learning. This fact sheet examines the specific impact on Latino children's well-being and ability to learn and provides steps to keep children healthy and ready for school.

Graduate medical education (GME) is critical to the career development of individual physicians, to the functioning of many teaching institutions, and to the production of our physician workforce. However, recent reports have called for substantial reform of GME. The current lack of established GME outcome measures limits our ability to assess the…