Since 2022, the District of Columbia (DC) has implemented the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund (hereafter, "the fund"), which represents an innovative strategy for boosting the pay of early childhood educators to achieve pay parity between early childhood educators and their counterparts (Greenberg et al. 2023) and for supporting…

This report is prepared in compliance with ESB 5167, Section 236(4)(e), which directs the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to report enrollments and active caseload for the Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) program to the Governor, legislative fiscal committees, and the legislative-executive WorkFirst Poverty…

Since 2022, the District of Columbia (DC) has implemented the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund (hereafter, "the fund"), a landmark initiative supported by tax revenue that increases pay for educators in DC's licensed child care facilities to promote pay parity with their K-12 counterparts. In FY 2024, DC's Office of the State…

The John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is part of a multi-center collaborative project focused on child care in New Jersey. The Heldrich Center works alongside the Center for Women and Work and the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, with support and…

Millions of parents use non-parental childcare for their preschool-age children. Prior research has focused on family characteristics that are associated with parents' preferences of early care and education arrangements. Yet, little is known about preschool parents' perspectives of the childcare search process. To further explore how parents…

Child care provided in home-based settings by non-relatives remains a prominent model of care in Canada. Following commitments of over $27.2 billion in Budget 2021, the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement was formed, encompassing collaborations between the federal government, provinces and territories, and Indigenous groups to…

The number of family child care (FCC) providers in the United States, or providers who are licensed, certified, or registered to provide care in their home, fell by nearly half between 2005 and 2017 (NCEQA, 2020a). This has implications for families who prefer FCC settings. Understanding providers' motivations for starting their program may…

The Chinese government has implemented several policies to promote the development of childcare services. However, Chinese childcare services are facing a dilemma rather than flourishing. Against this background, this study intends to reveal the development process of the Chinese childcare service from prosperity to stagnation, the dilemmas that…

Working with young children is intellectually, emotionally, and physically demanding. These challenges are compounded by the inadequate compensation that characterizes the early care and education (ECE) sector and lack of workplace support such as access to health benefits, retirement plans, and time off (Montoya et al., 2022). The cumulative…

Family child-care programs (FCCs) are a unique and vital part of the Massachusetts child-care and education system. FCC owners tend to serve some of the highest-need children and families in the Commonwealth, yet the owners and assistants who run these programs often take home some of the lowest wages among educators. While much research has been…

Education Development Center, in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Human Services (DHS), received an Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation Child Care Policy Research Partnership grant in 2022 to study state-administered funding initiatives aimed at supporting child care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular…

Families commonly make decisions about child care and early education (CCEE). CCEE supports children's learning and parents' work and education. Families may use CCEE in a child care center, home, or school setting. They may use a licensed program or relatives, friends, or neighbors to provide care. To support families who are looking for CCEE,…

The John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is part of a multi-center collaborative project focused on child care in New Jersey with the Center for Women and Work and the National Institute for Early Education Research with support and collaboration from the New Jersey Department of Children…

Children who are in high-quality childcare are encouraged to explore the material and social environment. Boys and girls might differ in their susceptibility to this quality of childcare. In the current study, we tested whether childcare quality is related to children's involvement in home-based childcare, and whether child gender acts as a…

Using administrative data of center-based child care providers in North Carolina from 2005 to 2018, we provide the first direct evidence on the effects of competition on provider quality and student outcomes in the context of early care and education, taking advantage of quality measures from the state's Quality Rating and Improvement System…