Using Medicaid to Help Young Children and Parents Access Mental Health Services: Results of a 50-State Survey (Updated March 2017)

Learn about our Supporting Young Children’s Mental Health project. As states work to strengthen supports for young children’s mental health, often with the goal of reducing the incidence of costly conditions at later ages, they face the question of how to finance new or expanded services. This brief examines states’ use of Medicaid as a […]

State Policies through a Two-Generation Lens: Strengthening the Collective Impact of Policies that Affect the Life Course of Young Children and their Parents

Learn about our Improving the Odds for Young Children project. This is an excerpt from the full brief. Two-generation approaches to promoting the healthy development and school success of young children aim to enhance the well-being and life opportunities of both parents and children. This approach is based on research that shows how conditions affecting […]

Investing in Young Children: A Fact Sheet on Early Care and Education Participation, Access, and Quality

Learn about our Improving the Odds for Young Children project. High quality early care and education can play a critical role in promoting young children’s early learning and success in life, while also supporting families’ economic security. Young children at highest risk of educational failure – those experiencing poverty and related circumstances that may limit […]

Parent Engagement from Preschool through Grade 3: A Guide for Policymakers

Learn about our Expanding Opportunities for Parent Engagement project. Parent engagement in children’s education is increasingly viewed as an essential support to children’s learning in early care and education programs and throughout the school years. While there are many definitions of “parent engagement,” the term is used here to describe parents’ efforts to promote their […]

Young Children at Risk: National and State Prevalence of Risk Factors

Learn about our Improving the Odds for Young Children project. Introduction Across the U.S., large numbers of young children are affected by one or more risk factors that have been linked to academic failure and poor health. Chief among them is family economic hardship, which is consistently associated with negative outcomes in these two domains. […]

Practices for Promoting Young Children’s Learning in QRIS Standards

Learn about our Expanding Opportunities for Parent Engagement project. This is an excerpt from the full brief. Introduction Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS) have emerged as a central strategy in states’ efforts to improve the quality of early care and education programs and the capacity of these programs to promote positive outcomes for children. Currently, […]

Coaching and Quality Assistance in Quality Rating Improvement Systems: Approaches Used by TA Providers to Improve Quality in Early Care and Education Programs and Home-based Settings

This is an excerpt from the full report. Introduction Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRISs) commonly offer on-site technical assistance (TA) and coaching to help early care and education settings achieve quality improvements and a higher QRIS rating. In surveys of administrators overseeing statewide QRISs, almost all states reported the use of on-site TA and coaching […]