Early Childhood Care & Education & School Readiness
Read the Family Funder Spotlights on the Rauch Foundation: Improving Children's Lives by Supporting Early Care and Education and the KDK-Harman Foundation: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty through Education
See web resources specific to Early Literacy
See the materials from our 2006 Early Childhood Workshop including Parenting Counts, a presentation about the science of early learning.
Return to the Web Resources Main Page
Connecting Children, Families, Schools, and Communities to Build School Readiness
These short Issue Briefs introduce you to various aspects of early care and education that influence school readiness and suggest actions for philanthropy.
Download all 7 Early Childhood Issue Briefs or choose individual topics:
- Introduction and Emerging Issues
- Early Childhood Care & Education
- Early Literacy
- Transition to School
- Healthy Births
- Parents & Families
- Healthy Children
Ensuring Early Success for Young Children
This two-page issue brief gives an overview about ensuring early success for young children, options for philanthropy and a list of resources for further learning and action
The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades Executive Summary
Although students must be present and engaged to learn, thousands of this country’s youngest students are academically at risk because of extended absences in their early school years. Nationally, an estimated one in ten kindergarten and first grade students miss nearly a month or more of school over the course of a year. This report, commissioned by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, raises awareness of this issue, presents data on the scope of the challenge, and shares emerging insights about how to address it. Click here for the Full Report.
Family, Friend, and Neighbor Care: Strengthening a Critical Resource to Help Young Children Succeed (2006)
The 2006 KIDS COUNT essay highlights the importance of high quality childcare in fulfilling the promise of equal opportunity for all children.
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Briefs from this anti-crime group of over 2,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, victims of violence, youth violence experts and leaders of police associations.
- A Stitch in Time: What Works with Troubled Preschoolers
- Child Care State Briefs - Two-page child care reports for specific states.
- America's Child Care Crisis: A Crime Prevention Tragedy - National report on educational child care and pre-kindergarten.
What Does Economics Tell Us About Early Childhood Policy?
This RAND research brief presents a policy-oriented summary of individual published, peer-reviewed documents or of a body of published work.
Thrive in 5 www.thrivein5boston.org
A comprehensive school readiness roadmap for Boston driven by the scientific, economic and civic imperative to focus on young children and their families. The Roadmap, the result of a year-long public and private collaboration that engaged over 400 individuals, lays out powerful goals and well-researched strategies to ensure that children enter school ready to learn.
Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return
by Arthur Rolnick and Rob Grunewald of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Web Resources
Child Care Bureau, Office of Family Assistance
Supports low-income working families through child care financial assistance and promotes children's learning by improving the quality of early care and education and afterschool programs.
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE)
Through research, policy analysis and policy development, CSCCE focuses on issues relating to the several million teachers and providers currently working in center-based and home-based early care and education settings in the United States.
Center for the Child Care Workforce
A project of the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation, the Center for the Child Care Workforce’s mission is to improve the quality of early care and education for all children by promoting policy, research and organizing that ensure the early care and education workforce is well-educated, receives better compensation and a voice in their workplace.
Council of Chief State School Officers—School Readiness in High-Poverty Communities project
The ultimate purpose of the project is for teams to create and implement action plans to ensure all schools in high-poverty communities are ready to receive children from a variety of backgrounds.
Education Commission of the States
The mission of the Education Commission of the States is to help states develop effective policy and practice for public education by providing data, research, analysis and leadership; and by facilitating collaboration, the exchange of ideas among the states and long-range strategic thinking.
Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY)
A parent involvement, school readiness program that helps parents prepare their three, four, and five year old children for success in school and beyond.
The Ounce of Prevention Fund invests in the healthy development of at-risk infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families. They use a cycle of family-focused programs, research, training, policy analysis and advocacy to help young children succeed in school and throughout life.
Parents as Teachers National Center
Provides the information, support and encouragement parents need to help their children develop optimally during the crucial early years of life.
A research-based and research-validated early childhood literacy and school readiness program. The Program successfully strengthens families and prepares children for academic success through intensive home visiting.
A public education and advocacy organization that advances high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all three and four year olds.
National Association of Education for the Young Child
Dedicated to improving the well-being of all young children, with particular focus on the quality of educational and developmental services for all children from birth through age 8.
National Center for Early Development and Learning
NCEDL focuses on enhancing the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children from birth through age eight. This Web site provides links to research reports & publications for the national research and development centers of the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), formerly the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI).
National Child Care Information Center
A service of the Child Care Bureau, Office of Family Assistance, is a national clearinghouse and technical assistance center that links parents, providers, policy-makers, researchers, and the public to early care and education information.
National Institute for Early Education Research
Supports early childhood education initiatives by providing objective, nonpartisan information based on research.
School Readiness Indicators Initiative
A comprehensive set of school readiness indicators and corresponding reports and articles about to inform public policy for young children and their families.
A national learning consortium to demonstrate and evaluate strategies to support family, friend and neighbor caregivers. This web site contains information about the initiative, its partners and about what we are learning. Through this web site, you can also link to the Sparking Connections electronic mailing and a conversation area designed to enable visitors to share both information and opinions.
State Early Childhood Policy Technical Assistance Network
SECPTAN is a network of early childhood researchers, consultants, policymakers, and practitioners providing credible and unbiased help to state decision makers on policy issues.
The Talaris Institute provides research-based information about healthy child development and practical tips for parents.
National Latino Children's Institute - Words for the Future
NLCI's mission is to focus the nation’s attention on Latino children and empower communities for the full and healthy development of young Latinos in a culturally relevant environment.