Resource Library

Children and youth who run from foster care placements are a growing concern among policymakers and practitioners. A large number of youth in foster care run away from their placement at least once, and many do multiple times. Running from care is associated with a range of serious negative consequences, including human trafficking victimization.

This report describes how researchers in prevention science and public health partnered with practitioners who deliver youth healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs to translate the concept of co-regulation into action.

How are competency frameworks being used to build the capacity of the infant and toddler care and education workforce and support quality improvement?

Share information about the implementation of competency frameworks for infant and toddler teachers and caregivers. We are seeking information about competency frameworks that are actively being used in states, institutes of higher education, and professional organizations as well as in early care and education programs...

As states and territories make decisions about child care policies, they may find it useful to collect data from child care providers. Survey data can be helpful for answering questions about providers’ characteristics and experiences. Yet surveys can be difficult to design. This brief discusses best practices for developing and testing surveys.

A one-page tip sheet lists suggestions for writing strong survey questions. 

Collecting data from center-based early care and education (ECE) settings poses unique challenges. Center directors and teaching staff have limited ability to participate in data collection activities because of time pressures and the immediacy of issues that arise in providing care to young children. Centers also vary widely in their size, funding, staffing and organizational structures, and quality, so instruments and methods for collecting data must be flexible enough to capture variation...

The American-Indian Alaska Native Head Start Family and Children Experiences Survey (AI/AN FACES 2015) was planned over two years, with advice from members of a work group comprised of Region XI Head Start Directors, ACF partners, University-based tribal early childhood researchers, and the study research organization. In the Fall of 2015 and Spring of 2016, data were collected from children, families, and Head Start Programs. Using data from AI/AN FACES 2015, this research brief...

Mathematica is seeking nominations for measures of mutual reinforcement, or related constructs, to help us develop a new and unique measure of two-generation programs. Such a measure could help stakeholders better understand program characteristics that appear to help children and their families, and whether these programs produce the intended positive outcomes at the family level. We are producing this new measure in partnership with the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE)...

Every Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency can use research and evaluation services. Even if your agency has an internal research department, sometimes you may need to procure (i.e., contract out) specialized research or evaluation services. You can be more successful in getting the research and evaluation services you need if you have some understanding of the procurement process in your state.

In the U.S. in 2012, public funding of early care and education (ECE) could come from a variety of programs and levels of government (federal, state, local). This analysis of data from the 2012 National Survey of Early Care and Education uses household reports to estimate percentages of children under 5 years who enrolled in 2012 in two types of publicly funded ECE: center-based and paid home-based care...

The first three years of a child’s life are a distinct developmental period, characterized by rapid brain development, reliance on relationships with adults, and extreme responsiveness to environmental variation. Identifying the competencies (i.e., knowledge, skills, and other attributes) essential to infant and toddler (I/T) teaching and caregiving may offer a common language and lens for assessing job performance and provide a clear structure for professional growth and development...