Resource Library

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....

Making and sustaining improvements in practice in early care and education programs is challenging. Policymakers and practitioners are seeking new strategies to support improvement that can be tailored for and tested in the unique context of ECE settings. The Culture of Continuous Learning Project addresses this critical need in the field by testing the feasibility of using a structured method called the Breakthrough Series Collaborative for promoting continuous quality improvement focused on...

Prior research suggests that partnerships in early care and education have the potential to enhance the quality of care and offer comprehensive services to more children and families. This brief draws on data from the national descriptive study of Early Head Start-Child Care (EHS-CC) Partnerships to describe the activities partnerships engage in to improve the quality of services for infants, toddlers, and their families.

When combined with high quality early care and education, comprehensive services are intended to support families in their role as caregivers and foster the health and well-being of children. Connecting children and families to these services is a foundational feature of the Head Start and Early Head Start (EHS) models. Partnerships between EHS and other early care and education settings hold promise for expanding access to comprehensive services for infants, toddlers, and their families...

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...

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...

This report provides a breakdown of findings from the Head Start Health Manager Descriptive Study for each of the Head Start regions I-XII. The report describes study methods and findings on key topics (e.g., health manager characteristics, Head Start Health Services Advisory Committee). The findings include the overall response for Head Start/Early Head Start and each region individually...

This Overview of Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) grantee-led evaluations provides a synthesis of the opportunity these evaluations provide to expand the knowledge base on home visiting implementation and effectiveness. The overview describes the importance of grantee-led evaluations in answering questions of interest to states and learning about home visiting implementation in diverse contexts...

The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project is the first major effort to apply a behavioral economics lens to programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. This report presents findings from a behavioral intervention designed to increase the number of incarcerated noncustodial parents in Texas who apply for modifications to reduce the amount of their child support orders. Using a method called “behavioral diagnosis and design”...

This report presents findings from a study of two behavioral interventions — one that used behavioral messaging postcards and text message reminders to encourage participation in an optional meeting, and one that made the meeting easier to attend.

The goal of each intervention was to increase participant attendance at an optional informational meeting for Paycheck Plus, an earnings supplement program in which participants had previously enrolled. These meetings gave clients an...