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Early Care & Education

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Featured Tools & Resources

Ideas on How to Approach the Preschool Development Grant 2019 Bonus Coordinated Application, Eligibility, Enrollment

Planning Tool January 1, 2019

The 2019 Preschool Development Grant (PDG) included a bonus opportunity (worth 3 points) for states to plan for a coordinated application/enrollment, eligibility, and enrollment system that will address the complex needs of families while decreasing the fragmented approach communities use when it comes to screening, determining eligibility, and accessing services. This document provides ideas and examples of how to approach the application process to take advantage of this opportunity.

Early Childhood System Performance Assessment Toolkit

Planning Tool January 1, 2019

The purpose of the Early Childhood System Performance Measure Toolkit is to provide: 1. a framework that identifies the key contributions of a well-functioning early childhood system; 2. a set of performance measures to assess those key contributions, either directly or by proxy; 3. new tools, when needed and possible, that enable system stakeholders to measure system performance in areas that have historically not had tools for measurement; 4. guidance for early childhood system stakeholders on how they can implement the performance measures; and, 5. an ongoing research agenda to continue to improve existing system performance measures or tools or to develop tools, where lacking.

Australia’s National Quality Framework

Website January 1, 2019

From this web link, watch a short video or download a pdf, of the 2020 Performance report for Australia’s National Quality Framework . The report covers the impact of COVID-19 and natural disasters, children’s health and safety, educational program and practice, children from vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds, and workforce.

Provider Perceptions of Parent Aware: Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement System

Report January 1, 2019

The purpose of this report is to present findings from surveys of ECE providers about Parent Aware. Surveys were administered to currently Rated and previously participating Parent Aware providers to gather data about their participation in Parent Aware, including their motivation for participating, their experiences thus far, and changes they have made to their program as a direct result of participating in Parent Aware. Additionally, providers eligible to participate but not yet enrolled in Parent Aware were surveyed about their reasons for not participating currently and reasons they may participate in the future.

Mapping The Family Child Care Network Landscape

Report January 1, 2019

This research report examines a specific quality improvement approach – family child care networks. It describes findings from a survey-based scan of the landscape of staffed family child care networks across the U.S. and draws on examples from in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of network directors. Findings from this study contribute new information about the types of services networks offer to providers and families and set the stage for future examination of network effectiveness.

A Survey of State Child Welfare Policies and Initiatives

Report January 1, 2019

To understand the policies and services already in place for infants and toddlers in care and at risk of entering care, as well as where the child welfare field can leverage opportunities, Child Trends fielded the 2019 Survey of Child Welfare Agency Policies and Practices for Infants and Toddlers in, or who are Candidates for, Foster Care. The survey, supported by ZERO TO THREE and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), aimed to understand the current array of policies and practices intended to serve this population, and how this array may have shifted since the initial fielding of the survey in 2013.

Diversifying the Educator Workforce: Learning What Works from Washington State

Blog December 7, 2018

This blog post by Amaya Garcia and featured on the New America website, provides lessons learned from Washington State’s experiences on diversifying the educator workforce. She provides an overview of the biannual conference of the Washington Professional Educator Standards Board on diversifying the educator workforce. Washington is helping lead the way for other states interested in creating multiple pathways into the teaching profession to help address shortages and increase the diversity of the workforce.

DEEP DIVE: Child Care Assistance

Archived Meeting Resources December 6, 2018

This slide deck, featuring Christine Johnson-Staub, Center on Law and Social Policy Anna Carter, Division of Child Development and Early Education, North Carolina, provides a deep dive on child care assistance. Information includes background on CCDBG (child care development block grants), family friendly/continuity in policies and practices, copayment policies and practices, establishing and implementing a framework for child care and child care assistance, and alternate rate setting.