Child Care and Early Education Policy and Research Analysis (CCEEPRA) Project

2005-2025

Child Care and Early Education Policy and Research Analysis (CCEEPRA) Logo

The purpose of the Child Care and Early Education Policy and Research Analysis (CCEEPRA) project is to support policy and program planning and decision-making with rigorous, research-based information. Through CCEEPRA, Child Trends identifies high-priority issues in child care and early education (CCEE), develops research activities to address the issues, and shares results and implications with state, federal, and regional leaders. Research topics and activities are selected in partnership with OPRE to ensure that the project activities address the needs of children and families with low incomes and elevate the voices and experiences of parents and the child care and early education workforce. CCEEPRA activities aim to inform policies and practices related to the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and other early childhood initiatives at the Administration for Children and Families. Considerations to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion are embedded in all research activities. The work is intended to address critical issues in child care and early education while building the capacity for new research and evaluation efforts.

Products supported through CCEEPRA include literature reviews, syntheses of research findings, policy scans, fact sheets, data snapshots, measures compendia, meeting summaries, briefing papers, webinars, research briefs, research-to-policy/research-to-practice briefs, and research translation products disseminated in multimedia formats.  

Examples of key research activities include:

  • Identifying effective strategies to promote equitable access to child care and early education.
  • Documenting key trends in the characteristics and supply of child care and early education through analyses of the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE).
  • Documenting trends in families’ search and use of different types of child care and early education through analyses of the NSECE.
  • Analyzing characteristics of and supports for the child care and early education workforce.
  • Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on child care and early education.
  • Understanding strategies to improve the quality of child care and early education
  • Analyzing state and territory implementation of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG).
  • Synthesizing knowledge gained through research and consultation with child care and early education experts to inform future research and policies at the national, state, and local levels.
  • Translating research findings into short, easy-to-use products designed for child care and early education leaders and their teams.
  • Convening research and policy experts to review research findings and identify implications for policy decision-making and program administration.
  • Identifying new methodological and analytic approaches to increase the efficiency and applicability of research efforts.

Point(s) of contact: Ivelisse Martinez-Beck, Tracy Carter Clopet, Shannon Warren, and Dianna Tran

Related Resources

This snapshot presents findings about the health insurance coverage among the center-based child care and early education workforce and how it varies by race and ethnicity.

Understand different types of professional development strategies and how they can help state/territory leaders reach their goals.

This brief summarizes the research evidence on how high-quality ECE benefits all young children, as well as key subgroups, such as children from families experiencing low household income, children who are dual language learners, and children with disabilities.

This short-form product describes the value of competency frameworks and competency-based professional development for infant/toddler teachers and caregivers.

Read a summary of research about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected child care and early education programs and the families they serve in the first year of the pandemic.

In this piece on nontraditional-hour care, we highlight descriptive reports using national data on both families with young children who need nontraditional-hour care, as well as the characteristics of providers who offer nontraditional-hour care.

This snapshot provides an updated look at the demographic characteristics (race and ethnicity, languages spoken, and nativity status) of the center-based CCEE workforce and their professional characteristics by each demographic group using the 2019 NSECE and compares those estimates with the 2012 findings to see if trends in professional characteristics changed with time.

This snapshot uses data from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) to examine variation in hourly wages by CCEE teachers’ demographic characteristics, teachers’ roles and responsibilities in the center, and center and community characteristics.

This short-form product is intended to provide examples relevant to state child care administrators on how local, state, and federal CCEE datasets many be used, either singly or in combination, to examine and track progress toward improving equitable access to CCEE.

This resource provides guidance to data users interested in using the 2019 NSECE to examine questions related to ECE access using a multi-dimensional, family-centric definition of access.

This short-form product summarizes findings from a study on state reported barriers and solutions to implementing the interstate background check requirements of the CCDBG Act of 2014.

This highlight draws key findings from two reports focused on families’ search for child care and states’ efforts to provide parents with consumer education to help inform their child care search process: 1) Parents’ Reasons for Searching for Early Care and Education and Results of Search: An Analysis Using the Access Framework; and 2) Supporting Families’ Access to Child Care and Early Education: A Descriptive Profile of States’ Consumer Education Websites.

This short-form product is intended to introduce state child care administrators to the multi-dimensional definition of child care and early education (CCEE) access. The product is also designed to underscore the family-centric nature of the definition and describes why the multi-dimensional definition is more useful for examining access than traditional definitions. The product also includes an infographic, designed to stand alone and as a quick but comprehensive illustration of CCEE access.

Explore the survey instrument used to capture information about Head Start Grantees’ and Delegates’ Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic

 

This Snapshot uses data from the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) to examine caregiving arrangements for young children with special needs to better understand where these children receive early care and education (ECE) services. Findings in this Snapshot are focused on children under age 6 and ECE providers serving children under age 6.

The intent of the Snapshot is to examine the types of nonparental care lower-income households, with at least one working parent, use to care for children under age 6. The Snapshot examines the types of nonparental care families use, both solely and in combination, to care for infants and toddlers (0-35 months) and 3- to-5-year-olds (not yet in Kindergarten).  

This Guidebook addresses the development of a common understanding and approach to measuring access to early care and education.

The Guidebook provides information in four sections:..

This research brief summarizes the measures used in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems validation studies...

This white paper addresses the 2018 revision of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). Federal statistical agencies use the SOC to classify workers and jobs into occupational categories. ACF’s proposals in this paper include changes to the titles, definitions, and placement of the occupations involving the early childhood care and education (ECCE) workforce....

These two publications address the issues facing early care and education providers because of monitoring by multiple agencies and organizations...

This research review addresses the question:

What evidence do we have from the literature on associations between infant/toddler teacher and caregiver preparation (e.g., education, credentials, etc.) and quality of caregiving and child outcomes?...

The descriptive brief provides an overview of the qualifications and the professional development activities of the nation’s infant/toddler workforce, based on representative data collected by the National Survey of Early Care and Education. The goal of this brief is to help the field better understand the strengths and needs of the infant/toddler workforce in center-based as well as home-based early care and education programs...

This research brief is the first in a series which seeks to provide early childhood researchers, program developers, and funders with an introduction to implementation frameworks and promising practices in implementation science with the aim of facilitating their use in early care and education. This brief introduces key elements of effective implementation within an integrated, stage-based framework. This framework posits that 1) implementation happens in four discernible stages...

This brief, based on a keynote speech delivered by Martha Zaslow at BUILD Initiative’s 2013 Annual QRIS National Meeting, reviews and updates our understanding of goals and outcomes of QRIS, in order to work toward the next generation of QRIS. The brief articulates a framework that can support design, revision, validation, and evaluation of QRIS and serves as the introduction to a forthcoming product from the Quality Initiatives Research and...

Collecting and using data are core activities in a well-functioning Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). Yet, data used in a QRIS are frequently housed in different systems, using different data management techniques. Ensuring a high level of QRIS data quality involves implementing a number of best practices drawn from established practices used in other fields. The purpose of this brief is to describe the specific strategies QRIS data stakeholders can use to improve upon the...

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) currently serve as a centerpiece of many states’ early care and education (ECE) activities. However, QRIS can only strengthen ECE program quality if they are built on quality data. Intentional and rigorous data management and governance practices are essential for data gathered exclusively for the QRIS (such as program observation scores) as well as for external data accessed by the QRIS (such as workforce registry data).  The purpose...

This brief is designed to support Quality Improvement (QI) efforts by describing the status of the evidence and presenting information that categorizes quality improvement efforts using a typology of QI models and targets. The brief provides: an overview of the current QI context; the methodology for this review; a conceptual framework to categorize QI efforts; a summary of trends in the evidence base on the effectiveness of different types of QI; and a discussion of potential QI...

The majority of states are currently implementing, designing, or piloting a Quality Improvement and Rating System (QRIS). One key component of a QRIS is the way it assigns program ratings. However, there is a great deal of variability in the structure states use to determine a program’s rating level, with states using three primary structures. Block structures specify a set of quality standards at each level of quality. Before a program can move up to a higher level of quality...

The prevalence of child care changes is a noteworthy issue, and subsidies may assist low-income families in maintaining continuity of care. In this brief, authors review select Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) state policies, as of October 1, 2012, that have been, or may be, associated with exits from the subsidy program. The summaries provided may be used to contextualize research findings across states and to inform conversations about facilitating continuity in subsidized care among...

What does recent research say about child care subsidies? This literature review summarizes recent research on topics related to child care subsidies with the intent to provide a foundation of empirical knowledge for state administrators, program developers, and policymakers as they choose among and implement subsidy policies. The three sections of the report include: descriptive information about subsidy use; a review of the literature addressing the association between subsidy receipt and...

Interest in the quality of provider-family relationships in early care and education (ECE) settings has sharpened the focus on defining and measuring elements of these relationships across settings for program improvement purposes.  In this brief, authors examine the alignment of research-based elements of family-provider partnerships with professional and performance standards from three national ECE organizations as well as selected professional competencies and Quality Rating and...

Many factors influence parents’ decision-making in their child care choices. This literature review provides an overview of empirical knowledge about the factors that influence parents’ decision-making in their child care choices. Findings from the literature are organized into four main sections reflecting empirical findings about: 1) parents’ child care decision-making processes, 2) parents’ preferences and priorities in selecting a care arrangement...

Child care survey data and analyses can be improved by stepping away from terminology which may have unclear or multiple meanings to different audiences. This brief, which draws from the Design Study of the National Survey of Early Care and Education, reviews the importance of child care data, as well as some of the pitfalls of misinterpretation of survey items. Through a review of literature, cognitive testing, and feasibility testing, the brief considers terminology issues as they... 

There is increasing emphasis on coordination and collaboration across early care and education sectors to provide consistent, high-quality services to meet the needs of families with young children. This brief presents work on the conceptualization and measurement of collaboration in the field of early childhood.  The brief identifies key components of collaboration and encourages the development and use of measures of collaboration in the early childhood field.  The brief presents...

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are only useful if their ratings are valid.  This brief provides detailed examples and findings from QRIS validation activities in four states: Indiana, Maine, Minnesota and Virginia. The brief demonstrates how different states have approached QRIS validation, compares findings, and highlights challenges in designing and conducting QRIS validation studies. 

Authors use a framework provided by Zellman and Fiene through the Quality Initiatives...

Dosage, or the amount of intervention delivered, is an important factor in understanding implementation...

Quantity measures are far more prevalent than quality measures in implementation research...

To ensure implementation of early childhood interventions with fidelity, implementation strategies must be aligned...

This brief highlights advantages, disadvantages, and potential research uses of four publicly available datasets...

This brief highlights the lack of consistent findings regarding subsidy duration in existing studies, resulting from...

This brief finds a high degree of overlap between parent and provider report of subsidy receipt using data from the...

There are multiple indications that different forms of on-site technical assistance aimed at improving quality are...

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) for early care and education and school age care programs are…

The purpose of this research brief is to provide information that can be used to target and guide content for…

More than half of states now have Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) in some stage of development…

On both the federal and state levels, policymakers and program administrators are interested in how early care and…

As policymakers and program administrators work to enhance the quality of early care and education settings, there is…

Program observation offers an important window into program quality and an opportunity to identify strengths and…

The purpose of this document is to encourage high-quality QRIS evaluations by providing timely information on…

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) for early childhood programs and school-age care are being implemented in…

Policies such as those related to child care subsidies and quality rating and improvement systems are designed to…

Fifty-seven percent of children under age six who are in non-parental care are cared for in a home, whether that of a…

This Brief discusses key characteristics that differentiate measures of quality, and the extent to which measures that…

Quality measurement in early care and education programs now plays a central role in early childhood policy and…

Classroom observation measures that were originally developed and refined for early childhood research purposes are…

The use of child care arrangements, especially among low-income working parents, is of key interest to policy makers…

Researchers have consistently found associations between child care quality and children’s developmental outcomes…

This brief examines how provider training and education are related to parent- and provider-reported indicators of…

States and the federal government have invested in early care and education programs with an explicit goal of improving…

The goal of this research brief is to explore areas for refining, extending, and developing measures of quality for…

Measures assessing the quality of children’s environments and interactions in nonparental care settings were...

As states and communities invest in initiatives to improve the quality of early care and education, the measurement of…

This Issue Brief draws on a review of the literature on QRSs, as well as the proceedings of three meetings convened by…

This video features parents describing the many factors they consider when looking for child care and early education.

This highlight summarizes research on subsidy stability, defines key terms, describes potential administrative and policy obstacles to subsidy use, and shares resources for CCEE leaders interested in improving their subsidy programs.

Understand different models of coordinated services used across the United States and how to improve service coordination for families.

Explore OPRE’s study about Head Start’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on a national survey of Head Start grantees, interviews with Regional Program Managers and Head Start Collaboration Office Directors as well as interviews with program directors, teachers, and family service workers.

 

This short-form product provides an overview of trauma and its impact on child care and early education (CCEE), details actionable steps for CCEE leaders to ensure providers are using a trauma-informed approaches, and provides guidance for addressing the needs of young children, parents/caregivers, and CCEE providers.

The report highlights examples of state ECE consumer education websites that are easy for parents to navigate; offer information about costs and financial supports to make care more affordable; provide information about how care can support child development; and can help parents locate care that meets their needs (e.g. near home/their work, during non-traditional hours, etc.).

Research agenda for examining the impacts of COVID-19 on child care and early education (CCEE), including young children, families, the CCEE workforce, CCEE programs, and the broader CCEE system.

This report examines families’ access to early care and education using a definition of access that examines whether parents, with reasonable effort and affordability, can enroll their child in care that supports child development and meets parents’ needs.

 

This snapshot presents nationally representative data on why parents search for care for their young children and the reasons for not enrolling with a new provider after such a search.

The paper provides basic background information about the structure of child care costs and revenues and shows how the pandemic and associated changes in regulations and demand have affected them. The paper also describes implementation issues for allocating financial resources to child care programs and offers considerations related to implementation (e.g., considerations related to determining program eligibility for grants, selection criteria for grants, and calculation of award amounts).

This resource guide provides information for researchers about administrative data collected on federal policies and programs that (in whole or part) support young children with disabilities.

These resources present a national portrait of the demographic diversity of center-based and home-based ECE teachers and caregivers from the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE), and include examinations of the professional characteristics of each subgroup, as well as the concordance between teacher and caregiver demographic characteristics and the characteristics of the children and communities they serve.

This report explores preliminary associations between indicators of the quality of care and the prices for care reported by providers in the United States for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Recent federal, state, and local policies and initiatives focus on increasing access to high-quality ECE for all families. Given the prevalence and potential importance of these initiatives for families and children, it is useful for the field to take stock of how access to ECE is conceptualized and measured and to understand the extent to which context, purposes, and available indicators shape the assessment of access.

This report describes the ways in which individual characteristics and factors at the program and system levels are associated with individual teachers’ and caregivers’ participation in PD in a nationally representative sample of ECE teachers and caregivers.

Much like the 7.8 million families with young children in urban areas, many of the 1.1 million families with young children in rural areas need and use early care and education (ECE). Families across the United States face challenges accessing child care, and challenges often vary by population density. Although the definition of what constitutes an urban, suburban, and rural area differs across studies, the literature suggests that...

The experience of homelessness is a known risk factor for young children’s development and well-being. High-quality early care and education may help children overcome some of the negative factors associated with homelessness. However, states, communities and early care and education providers face many barriers to ensuring access to care for these young children, including challenges with identifying children who are or are at risk of experiencing homelessness...

Researchers and policymakers in the early care and education (ECE) field are interested in understanding the factors that contribute to successful quality improvement (QI) initiatives in ECE settings. They also want to learn about factors leading to improved outcomes for children and families through successful QI initiatives. One factor posited to influence the success of such initiatives is the readiness of individuals and organizations to adopt new quality improvement practices.

States and territories have increasingly worked to strengthen their early care and education (ECE) systems to more efficiently and effectively serve young children. It can still be challenging, however, to coordinate ECE systems’ multifaceted funding streams, services, standards, and regulations.This report summarizes publicly available information about the coordination or inclusion of Head Start across various aspects of state and territory ECE systems. 

This set of resources is intended to strengthen the ability of state/territory child care administrators and their research partners to utilize administrative data to address policy-relevant early care and education research questions. The resources are designed for researchers who are new to the analysis of administrative data as well as seasoned users of administrative data who are expanding their research to include new types of administrative data (e.g., expanding to a new state or new agency).

Stable, high-quality child care has numerous benefits for children and families, including providing support for child development and enabling parents to work. To make child care accessible to low-income families, the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) offers guidance and funds to states, territories, and tribes to...

Licensing is traditionally viewed as providing the foundation (or the floor) of quality in early care and education (ECE) settings. States and territories are responsible for licensing child care programs, and a license serves as permission to legally...

In 2012, 3.8 million home-based child care providers in the United States cared for more than 7.1 million children. These home-based child care providers represent a diverse group including licensed family child care programs along with family members, friends, and neighbors who regularly care for children.

Over the last decade, the landscape...

These snapshots describe U.S. households’ costs for, and usage of, ECE in 2012, looking at differences by age of child, household income, and community urbanicity.

Defining and monitoring early care and education (ECE) program engagement in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are essential tasks that can inform implementation and improvement efforts. Accurate data about the types of ECE programs that are rated, where they are located, and who they serve can shape outreach and recruitment efforts. The term engagement is used as a broad term in this brief to encompass varying...

While many efforts to improve the quality of early care and education (ECE) have focused on increasing teachers’ and caregivers’ competencies and knowledge specific to the teaching of young children, a small body of research suggests that an ECE workforce that is mentally healthy can provide the best-quality care for children.

Over 1.4 million children in the United States receive child care subsidies each month, provided through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and administered at the state or local level (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). Subsidies assist families in paying for child care arrangements so that low-income parents, including parents transitioning from welfare, can work or attend training and education...

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are initiatives implemented in states to promote improvement in the quality of early care and education (ECE) programs. Although systems vary in their specific features, QRIS typically include a process for measuring and rating ECE program quality, sharing ratings with parents and the public...

What does “curriculum” mean when applied to working with infants and toddlers?

This brief discusses the meaning of the term when applied to early education and care programs serving families with infants and toddlers. The discussion focuses on how programs can incorporate and use the concepts of a curriculum in a way that is developmentally appropriate for infants and toddlers...

Three principles of scale development — Dimensionality, Item Selection, & Item Scoring are especially relevant for Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) rating scales. This brief describes how using these principles can help in the development and refinement of QRIS rating scales. Attention to these principles will enhance the ability of QRIS ratings to achieve the goal of predicting observed quality scores and child outcomes...

This guidebook describes the steps and best practices for successfully selecting and implementing a parenting intervention. The purpose is to provide program, state, and child care network leaders an easy-to-use tool for implementing a parenting intervention. The guidebook may be used as a companion to the Compendium of Parenting Interventions recently developed by the Health and Human Services Interagency Parenting Group and the Head Start National Center on Family...

This document describes a review of research on developmental screening tools designed for use with children from birth to age five. It provides detailed profiles for 16 commonly-used and/or publicly available developmental screening tools, as well as a set of summary tables providing an “at a glance” review of some common features across the tools. The compendium aims to translate technical psychometric information about the reliability and validity of the developmental...

INQUIRE Data Toolkit

January 30, 2014

The INQUIRE Toolkit grows out of the growing awareness of the importance of collecting data related to early care and education.  The Quality Initiatives Research and Evaluation Consortium (INQUIRE) Data Work Group was convened to address a request from stakeholders for information on building an effective data infrastructure to support activities including monitoring, continuous program improvement, reporting, validation and evaluation in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and...

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems’ administrators are seeking resources and technical assistance...

There is widespread and growing interest in how parents make decisions about their children’s care…

Quality measures were originally developed for research aimed at describing the settings in which children spend time…

INQUIRE Data Toolkit

October 21, 2022

The INQUIRE Toolkit grows out of the growing awareness of the importance of collecting data related to early care and education.  The Quality Initiatives Research and Evaluation Consortium (INQUIRE) Data Work Group was convened to address a request from stakeholders for information on building an effective data infrastructure to support activities including monitoring, continuous program improvement, reporting, validation and evaluation in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and...