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…

Realist evaluation (RE) is increasingly adopted to assess the effectiveness of social programs. RE goes beyond measurement of outcomes, providing insight into how and why programs work by focusing on how participants experience and respond to programs within certain contexts. A RE was conducted on Healthy Start-Départ Santé (HSDS), an early…

This report presents key findings from the four years of the Quality Support Program (QSP). The QSP is an initiative of, and funded by, the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education Early Childhood Education Quality Assurance and Regulatory Services Directorate (NSW DoE), involving the delivery by Australian Children's Education and Care…

The Childcare PhysicaL ActivitY (PLAY) policy was an evidence-informed, eight-item institutional-level policy document targeting children's physical activity, outdoor play, and sedentary time. Nine childcare centers in London, Ontario, participated in this cluster, randomized controlled trial. Early Childhood Educators allocated to the…

Over the past decade, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners have increasingly come to recognize the importance of quality in early care and education. Along with this recognition is compelling evidence that sound administrative practices help ensure high-quality learning opportunities for young children. Since its first publication in…

As the world transitioned out of a global pandemic, the Quality Early Education System (QEES) continued to push for innovative programming and strengthen the collaboration between community partners. QEES in Hillsborough County, Florida has a front-row seat to the challenges presented to the early childhood community, ranging from staffing…

For thousands of young children in Hillsborough County, Florida, this story includes unprecedented changes in the care and teaching they receive from adults, all of whom are impacted by the societal upheaval caused by the pandemic. The changes in young children's experiences that began on March 13--the day the U.S. government declared the COVID-19…

Recent advances in policy development and professional practice in the field of early learning and child care have led to the expectation that it is appropriate and advantageous to include children with disabilities and extra support needs in early child care and learning programs. Yet, to date, evidence-based research on the effects of…

The Quality Early Education System (QEES) program is based on a vision where all children arrive at school with the benefit of high-quality positive life experiences that matter for brain development in all of the areas that play critical roles in school success. This vision is greatly needed in Hillsborough County, Florida, where data from 2018…

It is impossible to anticipate the length and impact of a global pandemic. Millions of young children across the globe had to quickly adjust to innovations in technology that support cognitive development. The coaches and educators at the Quality Early Education System (QEES) in Hillsborough County-a comprehensive, multiagency effort to support…

Policymakers, child care providers, and parents face tradeoffs in determining how much to spend on child care, including how many hours to purchase, and the features of programs that might influence quality. Given these tradeoffs, it is useful to understand what constitutes quality, the cost of care features associated with quality, the effects of…

Building strong relationships between children and parents is vital for children's social and emotional development. A majority of children attend early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings where they experience a range of relationships (educator-child, educator-parent, parent-child). Educators build relationships with children and…

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…

Second Substitute Senate Bill 5903 (2019) directed the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to contract with an organization providing coaching services to early achievers program participants, i.e., Child Care Aware of Washington (CCA WA), to provide statewide Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMH-C) to Early…

The Success By 6® (SB6) initiative is designed to support early care and education centers in improving and sustaining quality in Pennsylvania's Keystone STARS Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). The SB6 evaluation report examines implementation and outcomes. The findings have implications for SB6 continous quality improvement process…