Secondary Analyses of Data on Early Care and Education

Overview

<p>ACF supports the social and economic well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities through the delivery of human services programs. This includes early care and education programs such as the CCDF and HS/EHS that aim to promote economic security, health and safety, and positive developmental trajectories for vulnerable young children and their families.</p> <p>CCDF is the primary federal funding source for child care subsidies and aims to help eligible low-income working families access child care and to improve the quality of child care for all children. CCDF is administered as a block grant to state, territory, and tribal governments. CCDF also aims to improve the quality of care and promote children’s healthy development and learning by supporting child care licensing, quality improvement systems to help programs meet higher standards, and training and education for child care workers. </p> <p>HS/EHS serves children, ages birth to five, and pregnant women from low-income families and offers early learning, nutritional, health, social, family well-being, and other services. HS/EHS programs are delivered through direct grants from the federal government to agencies in local communities throughout the nation that provide services in centers, schools, family child care homes, and home-based settings. Additionally, direct grants serve migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families through Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs as well as tribal communities through American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start programs.</p> <p>ACF makes substantial investments to deliver these high-quality early care and education programs to young children and their families, and there is a robust and growing body of research to inform those investments. However, many critical questions remain about how to most effectively and efficiently support the well-being of young children and their families. </p> <p>The Secondary Analyses of Data on Early Care and Education grants will provide funding to address key early care and education questions of relevance to the goals and outcomes of programs administered by ACF, in particular the CCDF and HS/EHS. Findings from these secondary analyses are intended to inform policy, program administration, and future research.</p> <p>The <em>specific goals </em>of the Secondary Analyses of Data on Early Care and Education grants are to:</p> <ul> <li>Address topics of current relevance to the goals and outcomes of CCDF and HS/EHS; </li> <li>Encourage active communication, networking, and collaboration among prominent early care and education researchers and policymakers; and</li> <li>Increase the capacity of early care and education researchers to analyze existing data sets and disseminate their findings to multiple audiences.</li> </ul> <p>Topics of particular interest to ACF include, but are not limited to:</p> <ul> <li>Recruiting and retaining a qualified early care and education workforce;</li> <li>Costs associated with high-quality service delivery and blending/braiding of funding sources;</li> <li>Quality measurement, improvement, and investments;</li> <li>Reducing barriers to access, particularly for those most in need of services; </li> <li>Building the supply of high-quality care and education;</li> <li>Improving teacher and caregiver practice through professional development;</li> <li>Supporting the unique strengths and needs of diverse and traditionally understudied populations of children, families, and early care and education teachers/providers;</li> <li>Approaches to support parents’ early care and education choices as well as reach, recruit, enroll, and sustain families most in need of services;</li> <li>Variation in and implementation of policies and practices across states, territories, localities, and early care and education programs, and their links to child, family, and provider outcomes;</li> <li>Coordination and collaboration across early childhood and other social service programs and between early childhood programs and K-12 education; and</li> <li>Effective approaches to engage, support, and meet the needs of families.</li> </ul> <p>Data sets that are well suited for secondary analyses on the above topics include, but are not limited to:</p> <ul> <li>Survey data sets such as:</li> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/national-survey-of-early-…​nal​ Surve​y​ of​ Early​ Care​ and​ Educa​tion​ 2019​ (NSECE​ 2019​);</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/head-start-family-and-chi…​y​ and​ Child​ Exper​ience​s​ Surve​y​ (FACES​);</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/migrant-and-seasonal-head…​nt​ and​ Seaso​nal​ Head​ Start​ Study​ 2017​ (MSHS​ Study​ 2017​);</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/early-head-start-family-a…​ Head​ Start​ Famil​y​ and​ Child​ Exper​ience​ Surve​y​ 2018​ (Baby​ FACES​ 2018​);</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/early-head-start-child-ca…​ of​ Early​ Head​ Start​-Child​ Care​ Partn​ershi​ps​ (EHS​-CCP​);</a> and</li> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/american-indian-and-alask…​can​ India​n​ and​ Alask​a​ Nativ​e​ Head​ Start​ Famil​y​ and​ Child​ Exper​ience​s​ Surve​y​ (AI​/AN​ FACES​)</a>.</li> </ul> </ul> <ul> <li>Administrative data such as:</li> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/resource/acf-801-reporting-for-states-and-t…​-801​ Month​ly​ Child​ Care​ data​;</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/resource/acf-218-annual-quality-progress-re…​-218​ Annua​l​ Quali​ty​ Progr​ess​ Repor​t​ data​;</a></li> <li><a href="https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/data-ongoing-monitoring/article/program-i…​e​ of​ Head​ Start​ Progr​am​ Infor​matio​n​ Repor​t​ (PIR​);</a> and</li> <li>State or territory-level workforce registry, subsidy, Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), licensing, monitoring, child care resource and referral, or Preschool Development Grants B-5 data. </li> </ul> </ul> <ul> <li>Program evaluation data sets such as:</li> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/head-start-impact-study-a…​ Start​ Impac​t​ Study​</a>; and</li> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/resource/head-start-cares-head-start-class…​ Start​ Class​room​-based​ Appro​aches​ and​ Resou​rces​ for​ Emoti​on​ and​ Socia​l​ skill​ promo​tion​ (Head​ Start​ CARES​).</a></li> </ul> </ul> <ul> <li>Databases such as:</li> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/news/ccdf-policies-database">CCDF​ Polic​ies​ Datab​ase​</a>;</li> <li><a href="https://qualitycompendium.org/&quot; target="_blank">Quali​ty​ Compe​ndium​;</a><a class="external" href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/disclaimers"><span class="element-invisible">Visit disclaimer page</span></a> and</li> <li><a href="https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/licensing">Natio​nal​ Datab​ase​ of​ Child​ Care​ Licen​sing​ Regul​ation​s​</a>.</li> </ul> </ul> <p>Many of the early care and education data sets listed above, as well as other potentially relevant data sets, are available through the <a href="https://www.childandfamilydataarchive.org/cfda&quot; target="_blank">Child​ and​ Famil​y​ Data​ Archi​ve​</a><a class="external" href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/disclaimers"><span class="element-invisible">Visit disclaimer page</span></a>.</p> <p>Primary research and evaluation data sets may also be appropriate candidates for secondary analysis. Data sets may be used by themselves or linked.</p>