Child Care & Early Education : Research
Early Care and Education State Budget Actions FY 2010
The National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) Early Care and Education State Budget Actions report is an annual survey of state fiscal decisions in early care and education policy and programs, including child care, prekindergarten, home visiting and other related early childhood programs. The report tracks and analyzes trends in state decisions, particularly aiming to capture state funding choices in this area. State early care and education appropriations have experienced year-to-year increases for the last several years. In FY 2009, states increased appropriations across each area—child care, prekindergarten, home visiting and related early childhood programs—even in the face of emerging budget crises. In FY 2009 to FY 2010, state appropriations to early care and education were generally flat, reflecting no significant percentage change. This is particularly striking, given the unprecedented state budget gaps that lawmakers were addressing.
sites/default/files/file/ECEBudgetActions2010.pdf
Center on the Developing Child - Harvard University
A remarkable explosion of new knowledge about the developing brain and the human genome, linked to advances in the behavioral and social sciences, offers exceptional opportunities that did not exist a decade ago. Science now offers increasing promise as a vehicle for greater understanding of how the foundations of successful adaptation and effective learning in the childhood years lead to better outcomes in academic achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, lifelong health, and successful parenting of the next generation.
http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu/
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development - Child Care Study
The most comprehensive child care study conducted to date to determine how variations in child care are related to children's development.
National Institute for Early Education Research - State Preschool Profiles
The 2007 State Preschool Yearbook is the fifth in a series of annual reports profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. Tracking these trends is essential, since changes in states' policies on preschool education will influence how successfully America's next generation will compete in the knowledge economy.
Great Start Readiness Program
(Formerly known as the Michigan School Readiness Program)
This study measures the effects of Michigan’s School Readiness Program (MSRP) on entering kindergartners’ academic skills using an innovative research model. Language (receptive vocabulary), early literacy and early math skills were assessed in a sample of children from across Michigan. The study found that Michigan’s School Readiness Program has statistically significant and meaningful impacts on children’s early literacy and mathematical development.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Effects_of_MSRP_at_Kindergarten_Entry_-_NIEER_Study_155223_7.pdf
America's Vanishing Potential: The Case for PreK-3rd Education
A Report from the Foundation for Child Development - October 2008
http://www.fcd-us.org/usr_doc/AmericasVanishingPotentialFulllReport.pdf
Impacts of Early Childhood Programs
A set of briefs from the Brookings Institution, provide high-quality evidence on several early childhood interventions and their impact on children and families. The interventions include State Pre-K, Head Start, Early Head Start, Model Early Childhood Programs, and Nurse Home Visiting Programs.
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2008/09_early_programs_isaacs.aspx
National Center for Children in Poverty
The achievement gap for low-income young children starts early in life and is difficult to reverse. What science tells us about brain development, along with what we know from economic analysis, makes it clear that investing in high-quality early care and learning is essential to reducing this gap.
http://nccp.org/topics/earlycareandlearning.html
Family, Friend and Neighbor Care
Over the past few decades, research in many fields from education and child development to neuroscience has underscored the importance of early childhood development and what young children need to grow and learn: stable relationships with caring adults who are able to recognize and encourage each child’s natural curiosity and drive to learn. Research has also confirmed that young children thrive when the adults caring for and teaching them are intentional—that is they are learners themselves, about their own and children’s learning and are thus able to connect with children in ways that foster positive growth and development.
http://www.familiesandwork.org/sparking/pdf/FFN_Care_and_Early_Learning_Systems.pdf
National Child Care Information Center Resources, Q and A, Online Library, TA, Publications.
"Preschool for All: Investing in a Productive and Just Society" Committee for Economic Development, February 2002
"The Economic Promise of Investing in High-Quality Preschool: Using Early Education to Improve Economic Growth and the Fiscal Sustainability of States and the Nation" Committee for Economic Development, June 2006
"The State of Preschool: 2005 State Preschool Yearbook" W. Stephen Barnett, Ph.D., Jason T. Hustedt, Ph.D., Kenneth B. Robin, Psy.D., and Karen L. Schulman, M.P.P.