Research Connections’ librarians have curated this page to include publications that may be of particular interest to child care and early education policymakers, professionals supporting the workforce, and researchers. The publications were selected because they align with federal priorities, seasonal priorities, current events, or national interest. Many of the highlighted publications have been featured in Research Connections newsletters.
Infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) is a method of preventing early childhood expulsion and suspension used in all 50 states. This review provides an updated look at the recent body of literature on the positive impact of IECMHC in ECE settings. The review discusses…
How did child care directors respond to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic? This study analyzes a survey of 27 child care directors on the unique challenges introduced by the pandemic. Many identified concerns with staffing and financial issues, increased stress, and a disruption in the…
A close, supportive teacher-student relationship in early childhood can have long-lasting effects. This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to look at the role of teacher-student closeness and factors like cognitive flexibility and reading motivation on student reading…
How does the quality of education matter after attending a high-quality preschool program? This study from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University looks at whether the positive effects of high-quality early childhood education programs in North Carolina are greater in school districts with…
This study published by MDRC examines the long-term effects of the Making Pre-K Count and High 5s programs on third-grade math scores in New York City. When implemented on its own, the Making Pre-K Count program did not demonstrate statistically significant impacts. However, when combined with…
The number of regulated Family Child Care (FCC) programs in the United States has declined over the past 20 years. Using data from California, Florida, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this report from the Erikson Institute addresses questions such as why FCC…
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect child care assistance policies in the United States? New funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, and the American Rescue Plan Act allowed states to make policy…
This paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City notes that in the United States, many women are out of the labor force because they are primarily responsible for their children’s care. The study examines whether maternal labor force participation increases when free pre-kindergarten…
The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is used by many programs to inform important decisions. This study looks at whether, and to what extent, the scores vary within a single-day observation period. While the authors find some variability in CLASS scores (typically declining over the…
This paper looks at the intergenerational effects of the Perry Preschool Project (PPP) using newly collected data on the original participants of the PPP. It analyzes longer-term effects, including on children of the original participants. The results show the program had significant, positive…
Do high-quality early care and education (ECE) programs help low-income children overcome the disadvantages of childhood poverty in the long term? This study uses data from the National Institute for Child Health and Development’s 1991 Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to show that…
This study used a randomized controlled trial method to look at the effects of Ohio’s early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) system. The study found significant impacts on the social and emotional skills of children who received consultation, as well as their surrounding peers,…
Home-based child care (HBCC) is “the most common form of nonparental child care for infants and toddlers and for children living in poverty” (p. vii). The selected literature reviewed in this synthesis looks at the features of quality in HBCC settings, as well as how neighborhood and provider…