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High quality early learning experiences can promote young children's development and help to reduce achievement gaps between children from low-income families and children from more affluent families. Early care and education programs also promote parents' ability to support their children's learning, and allow parents to work or go to school. However, affordable, high quality, child care for infants and toddlers from low-income families is scarce. One strategy for improving access to high quality care for infants and toddlers is to form partnerships at the point of service delivery to build seamless systems of care and promote quality across settings. In 2015, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) awarded 275 Early Head Start (EHS) Expansion and EHS-Child Care (EHS-CC) Partnership grants. Of these, 250 grantees received funding for EHS-CC Partnerships or funding for both EHS-CC Partnerships and EHS Expansion. The EHS-CC Partnership grants support partnerships between EHS grantees and regulated child care centers and family child care homes serving infants and toddlers from low-income families. The partnerships aim to bring together the best of both programs by combining the high quality, comprehensive, relationship-based child development and family services of EHS with the flexibility of child care and its responsiveness to the social, cultural, and work-support needs of families. To better understand the characteristics of early care and education partnerships, including the EHS-CC Partnerships, the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in ACF commissioned a national descriptive study of EHS-CC Partnerships. Through a contract with Mathematica Policy Research, the national descriptive study provides a rich knowledge base about the characteristics of EHS-CC Partnerships and strategies for implementing partnerships in both center-based child care and family child care homes.

This brief is an effort to explore the meaning of the word "curriculum" when applied to working with infants and toddlers. The idea for the brief emerged from the early childhood community--specifically two groups of applied researchers funded by the Administration for Children and Families, INQUIRE and NITR. [See insert box on page 12 for more information on these groups]. These groups were getting questions from state policy makers and practitioners about the meaning of the term "empirically based curricula for infants and toddlers," a requirement for many accountability systems. Questions included concerns about how to conceptualize curriculum in the context of working with infants and toddlers--especially how to incorporate this concept in a way that provides sufficient focus on individualization and the supportive and responsive relationships that are the hallmark of infant/toddler care and education. There was concern that use of a curriculum would by definition be developmentally inappropriate for infants and toddlers. There were also questions about how stakeholders should verify the use of a curriculum for this age group. This brief begins a discussion about the meaning of the term when applied to early education and care programs serving families with infants and toddlers, and focuses especially on how the concept of a curriculum can be incorporated into and used in programs in a way that is developmentally appropriate for this age range. In this brief, the authors aim to provide background and guidance to policy makers and practitioners in the context of this new emphasis on curricula for programs serving infants and toddlers. The authors first look to existing definitions of curricula for infants and toddlers to identify key elements that should be considered (see Tables 1, 2, and 3 in the appendix). They then examine how one might verify the use of a curriculum (see Table 4 in the appendix). This is not a review of existing published curricula. The authors intend this information to be useful to those providing group care and education services in home-based and center-based settings, including to Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs, although some of the strategies for verifying curricula use may differ across setting types.

The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, authorized by Section 2951 of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-148), will provide $1.5 billion to states over five years to provide comprehensive, evidence-based home visiting services to improve a range of outcomes for families and children residing in at-risk communities (due to high rates of poverty, violence, poor health outcomes, and other factors). To receive the funds, each state must conduct a statewide needs assessment that (1) identifies at-risk communities, (2) assesses the state's capacity to provide substance abuse treatment and counseling, and (3) documents the quality and capacity of existing early childhood home visiting programs as well as gaps in these services. A number of the grantees participating in the Children's Bureau's Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visiting (EBHV) to Prevent Child Maltreatment grantee cluster prepared needs assessments to plan for implementing or expanding grant-related evidence-based home visiting services. This brief provides information about how grantees planned the assessments and collected the data, as well as facilitators and barriers to carrying out the assessments. It also describes lessons identified by grantees.

In 2006, the Gates Foundation launched the Early Learning Initiative to improve the school readiness of Washington State's children through three main strategies: (1) development of high-quality, community-wide early learning initiatives in two communities; (2) enhancement of statewide systems that support early learning; and (3) support for implementation of promising practices. Both Early Learning Initiative demonstration communities are implementing a program called Partnering with Families for Early Learning (PFEL) as part of the home-based early learning (HBEL) services for the Early Learning Initiative. PFEL is a newly designed home visiting program that draws on several curricula, including Partners in Parenting Education and Promoting First Relationships. This brief provides an overview of the observation instruments and describes the content and quality of the observed PFEL home visits. (Contains 6 tables and 10 footnotes.)

In 2006, the Gates Foundation launched the Early Learning Initiative to improve the school readiness of Washington State's children through three main strategies: (1) development of high-quality, community-wide early learning initiatives in two communities; (2) enhancement of statewide systems that support early learning; and (3) support for implementation of promising practices. This brief summarizes the communities' progress in developing home-based early learning (HBEL) services based on an implementation study conducted by Mathematica Policy Research during the first year of service delivery. It provides an overview of the need for HBEL services in East Yakima and White Center, how the communities selected programs to implement, and how they prepared for service delivery. It then describes the implementation of two established home visiting models and the piloting of a newly developed model. The brief concludes by highlighting key lessons learned and by describing the next steps for continuing to develop the HBEL service delivery system. (Contains 1 table and 5 footnotes.)

The high prevalence of kith and kin child care for infants and toddlers, coupled with research evidence suggesting cause for concern about quality in these settings, points to a critical need for policies and programs to support kith and kin caregivers in providing quality care. A number of state and local agencies are exploring strategies for supporting kith and kin caregivers; however, relatively little is known about how to engage them effectively and provide services in ways that support the quality of care they provide for young children (Anderson et al. 2005; Collins and Carlson 1998; Porter 1998). In summer 2004, the Office of Head Start funded 24 Early Head Start programs to implement the Enhanced Home Visiting Pilot Project, an initiative designed to support the quality of care that kith and kin caregivers provided to infants and toddlers enrolled in Early Head Start. Programs participating in the pilot were directed to continue providing all services to children and parents required by the Head Start Program Performance Standards for home-based programs. In addition, they provided home visits to caregivers, organized training workshops and support groups for them, and gave or loaned them materials and equipment. The authors present the results of a descriptive evaluation of these programs, which focused on identifying program models, documenting implementation strategies and challenges, learning about promising practices, and assessing the quality of kith and kin child care settings. (Contains 27 tables and 3 figures.) [This report was submitted to the Head Start Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.]

Research shows that home visitation programs targeted at the developmental needs of children can foster their well-being. The Enhanced Home Visiting Pilot Project, funded by the Head Start Bureau in 2004, supports the quality of care that kith and kin caregivers provide to infants and toddlers enrolled in home-based Early Head Start programs. Pilot sites arrange home visits to caregivers, organize support group and training events, and give or lend materials, such as age-appropriate books and toys and home safety items. Mathematica, along with its partner the Urban Institute, is conducting a two-year evaluation of the pilot program to identify program models, document implementation strategies and challenges, learn about promising practices, and assess the quality of kith and kin child care settings. This brief describes the early implementation experiences of the pilot projects. It is based on visits to sites after one year of operation, as well as information on the characteristics of enrolled children, families, and caregivers. (Contains 2 figures.)

In summer 2004, the Head Start Bureau funded 24 Early Head Start programs to implement the Enhanced Home Visiting Pilot Project, an initiative designed to support the quality of care that kith and kin caregivers provide to infants and toddlers enrolled in home-based Early Head Start programs. At the same time, an evaluation of these pilot programs was initiated. This interim report describes the early implementation experiences of the pilot projects. It is based primarily on site visits to participating programs after approximately one year of pilot operation, as well as information collected by programs on the characteristics of children, families, and caregivers enrolled in the pilot. It describes programs' initial designs for their pilot projects, as well as pilot staffing and the community partners that programs selected. It also examines key characteristics of children, families, and caregivers enrolled in the pilot; describes programs' methods for recruiting pilot participants and the services the pilot sites provide; and examines the early implementation successes and challenges programs experienced. The following are appended: (1) Site Profiles; and (2) Site Visit Protocols. (Contains 7 tables.)

In fall 2003, the Head Start Bureau began implementing the Head Start National Reporting System (NRS) to systematically assess the early literacy, language and numeracy skills of all 4- and 5-year-olds enrolled in Head Start. In addition to child progression on a designated set of outcomes during the year preceding kindergarten, the data will provide the Bureau with information that can be used to enhance its current program monitoring system and develop targeted training and technical assistance. This summary highlights: (1) Design and Development History of NRS; (2) Four-Component NRS Assessment Process (Comprehension of Spoken English, Vocabulary, Letter Naming and Early Math Skills); (3) Development of the Computer-Based Reporting System (CBRS); (4) NRS Quality Assurance and System Development Project; (5) Assessment Quality; (6) Training Assessors at the Local Program Level; (7) Local Approaches to Implementing the NRS; (8) Using the CBRS; (9) Using NRS for Local Program Improvement; (10) Perspectives of Local Staff on NRS; and (11) Implications for NRS Improvement. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [This report was submitted to the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration of Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.]

In 1994, the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers set forth a vision for Early Head Start programs in declaring that all child care settings used by Early Head Start families, whether or not the program provides the care directly, must meet the high standards of quality embodied in the Head Start Program Performance Standards. As part of the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project, extensive data on the child care settings used by Early Head Start and control group families for their children at three ages (14, 24, and 36 months) was collected. This report describes the patterns of child care use by Early Head Start families and the impacts that program participation had on families' child care use and the quality of care used. A high proportion of Early Head Start families placed their children in child care during the evaluation period, with higher levels of child care use among those in center-based sites: overall, nearly two-thirds of 3-year-old Early Head Start children spent at least 30 hours per week in some kind of child care arrangement. Early Head Start children attending classrooms in Early Head Start centers consistently experienced good-quality care across the three ages. Using a measure of caregiver-child interactions developed for this evaluation (the Child- Caregiver Observation System, C-COS), it was found that in about half the observation periods coded, Early Head Start caregivers were observed talking with the focus child; the frequency of caregiver talk was greater in Early Head Start than in community centers when children were 3 years old. Very high percentages of Early Head Start parents reported being satisfied with their recent primary child care arrangement--they liked how much attention the child received, how much he or she was learning, its safety features, and how "good" they thought the provider was with children. These results demonstrate the highly important role Early Head Start programs have played in responding to the vision of the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers. The following are appended: (1) Supplementary Tables; and (2) Procedures for Training and Establishing Reliability on the Classroom Observation Quality Measures. (Contains 8 tables and 30 figures.)

To address the increasing child care needs of low-income families in the wake of welfare reform, federal and state governments have responded with increased funding for child care and for initiatives to improve quality. Some of these initiatives have been designed specifically to address the unique challenges of infant-toddler care. This report details findings of a Zero to Three and Mathematica Policy Research in-depth study of collaborative community initiatives and partnerships designed to improve low-income families' access to good-quality infant-toddler care. The report describes three case study initiatives: (1) the Community Consolidated Child Care Pilot Services Program in El Paso, Texas; (2) state-sponsored Early Head Start Programs in Kansas City, Kansas and Sedalia, Missouri; and (3) Mountain Area Child and Family Centers in Buncombe County, North Carolina. The report also summarizes parent perspectives gleaned from focus groups conducted in each of the case study communities, and examines two overarching themes that emerged across the initiatives studied: how to pay for infant-toddler care, and how to ensure the provision of good-quality care. Among the findings noted in the report are the following: (1) in all sites, parents identified an inadequate supply of regulated infant-toddler slots, the high cost of infant-toddler care, and inadequate quality of many arrangements they could afford as the three main barriers low-income families faced; (2) when assured of a steady cash flow and ongoing support, family child care providers in the case study sites proved to be a significant source of quality infant-toddler slots for low-income families; (3) some regulatory barriers that deter providers from creating infant toddler slots in existing facilities can be overcome without compromising children's health and safety; (4) improving quality in the case study sites required offering sustained and intensive support to providers; and (5) with adequate support, child care providers were able to accept and care for children with special needs. The report's appendix includes site visit protocols. (Contains 59 references.) (HTH)

This report describes what has been learned in the first year of a study to examine collaborative community initiatives designed to improve low-income families' access to good-quality infant-toddler child care; the report examines the Early Head Start/child care partnerships in detail and identifies emerging themes to consider in more depth as the study continues. The research questions guiding the study addressed five broad themes: quality, affordability, state policy, barriers faced by families, and challenges to collaboration. A literature view, interviews with government officials, child care researchers, and other experts and focus groups conducted with child care providers, Early Head Start staff, and others serving families with infants and toddlers were used to identify promising collaborative community partnerships working to address comprehensively the barriers faced by families. Key players in these partnerships were interviewed. Findings indicated that staff of Early Head Start/child care partnerships could point to progress in a number of specific areas: improving quality, expanding supply and improving access, getting more resources for child care providers, increased community collaboration, and building community awareness of early childhood issues. Enduring challenges were identified and may be similar to those faced by like initiatives: improving quality while complying with performance standards, achieving and maintaining continuity of care, matching child care arrangements to families' needs, and staffing issues. Future study will involve the development of case studies of collaborative infant-toddler child care initiatives in three diverse communities. The report's appendix includes the telephone interview and focus group discussion guides. (Contains 65 references.) (KB)

Early Head Start began with 68 programs in 1995 and today, almost 650 programs serve some 55,000 low-income families with infants and toddlers. This two-generation program provides high-quality child and family development services, a focus on staff development, and a commitment to community partnerships. A rigorous national evaluation, including about 3,000 children and families in 17 sites, began in 1995. This technical report presents analyses of the impact that the research programs have had on children's development, parenting, and family development through 2 years of age, including details on the study's methodology and analytic approaches. Findings indicated that after a year or more of program services, when compared with a randomly assigned control group, 2-year-old Early Head Start children performed significantly better on a range of measures of cognitive, language, and social-emotional development. Their parents scored significantly higher than control group parents on many measures of home environment, parenting behavior, and knowledge of infant-toddler development. Early Head Start families were more likely to attend school or job training and experience reductions in parenting stress and family conflict. Although these impacts were generally of modest size, the pattern of positive findings across a range of key domains important for children's well-being and future development is promising, because the pattern is consistent across domains of child and family functioning known to be associated with later positive child outcomes, including social abilities, literacy, and school readiness. The report also considers variations in program impacts by race/ethnicity, age at enrollment, age of mother at child's birth, birth order, gender, welfare status, parents' primary occupation, parental education attainment, living arrangements, and risk factors. (Contains 73 references.) (KB)

Early Head Start (EHS) is a comprehensive program providing intensive services from before birth to age 3 to promote improved outcomes in child, family, staff, and community development. The third of a 3-volume series designed to share the experiences of the 17 EHS programs participating in the Early Head Start National Research and Evaluation Project, this report focuses on the extent to which the research programs were fully implemented as specified in the Revised Head Start Performance Standards. Chapter 1 of the report provides an overview of the Early Head Start program and the national evaluation, and describes the context in which the research programs have been implemented. Chapter 2 describes the methods and data used to assess the extent of early program implementation. Chapter 3 presents findings of the assessment of early implementation in early childhood development and health services, and preliminary data from observations of the community child care settings of Early Head Start children. Chapter 4 focuses on implementation of family and community partnerships. Chapter 5 details findings related to early implementation of program design and management. Chapter 6 summarizes findings and anticipates the next evaluation. Evaluation findings suggest that in Fall 1997, the research programs were at a very early stage of implementation, with many still putting some service and management systems in place, and all grappling with how to respond to families' changing service needs in the wake of welfare reform. Six programs had built upon previous experience serving families with young children to fully implement Early Head Start by Fall 1997. Eight programs had reached moderate implementation levels, and three were at low implementation levels. Challenges in implementation included completing home visits with most families and ensuring that community child care arrangements met the performance standards. Successes in implementing program requirements included offering individualized services and developing a strong staff development system. The report's two appendices contain the implementation checklists and rating scales. (Contains 11 references.) (KB)

Early Head Start (EHS) is a comprehensive, two-generation program providing intensive services from before birth to age 3 to promote improved outcomes in children's development, family development, staff development, and community development. The second of a 3-volume series designed to share the experiences of the 17 EHS programs participating in the Early Head Start National Research and Evaluation Project, this report describes the Early Head Start program and its national evaluation, and presents in-depth profiles of each of the participating research programs. Information for the profiles was obtained through two rounds of site visits conducted in Fall 1996 and Fall 1997. The programs participating in the national evaluation represent diversity in location, rural-urban setting, client population, and service delivery approach. There are 4 center-based programs, 8 home-based programs, and 5 mixed-approach programs profiled in this report. The profiles describe each programs' enrollment, recruitment procedures, the context in which the program operates, the services offered in each program area (child development, family development, community building), continuous program improvement efforts, and local research studies. Contact information for the program directors and local researchers is also provided. The profiles are grouped according to program approach as of Fall 1997 and presented in alphabetical order by state within each group. (KB)

As part of a multi-faceted effort, the National Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project examined the nature and extent of implementation in key program areas and the quality of crucial child development services in 17 research programs funded early in the initiative. Implementation data were collected through three rounds of site visits, surveys of program staff in Fall of 1997 and 1999, and observations in Early Head Start and community centers. This report describes lessons from the implementation analysis of the experiences of the 17 research programs as they developed between their initial funding in 1995 or 1996 and the final site visits in Fall of 1999. Findings are presented regarding the evolving program approaches, progress in overall implementation, variation in implementation, family engagement, service needs and use, quality of child development services, and state development and management. Ten themes summarized the key experiences of these early-funded programs: (1) increased attention to the revised Head Start Program Performance Standards; (2) expanding services; (3) increasing service intensity; (4) increasing child development focus; (5) refocusing efforts to improve child care quality; (6) enhancing family participation in program services; (7) provision of training and technical assistance; (8) evolving community partnerships; (9) changing leadership; and (10) increasing complexity. Selected major accomplishments include full implementation for 75 percent of the research programs, growth of a training and technical assistance system to support Early Head Start, and sustained high ratings of staff satisfaction and commitment. Important challenges include finding effective strategies for engaging families in parenting education and group socialization, increasing father involvement, and balancing program and staff needs. The report's three appendices include indicator checklists, implementation rating scales, and a paper on one program's Early Head Start outcomes in staff development. (Contains 32 references.) (KB)