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Adding data on social emotional learning and school climate did not improve the accuracy of identifying students at risk, but may support interventions

School districts tend to rely solely on academic measures to identify students who are struggling or “at-risk” of poor academic outcomes such as not graduating or being college ready. Researchers at the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Mid-Atlantic wondered if adding measures of school climate and social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies might improve the accuracy … Read more

Report gathers evidence on measuring quality in home-based childcare

As part of its “Home Based Child Care Supply and Quality Project,” the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation has published a literature review that summarizes features of childcare quality in home-based settings. The work finds wide variation in the definition of home-based childcare (HBCC), but some common features of quality, including those related to … Read more

Research links achievement of young adulthood milestones to economic stability, finds sequence matters less

A new report from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation examines the 20-year-old policy approach focused on the “success sequence,” or the idea that young adults who complete adulthood-transition milestones in a specific order are more likely to become economically successful. The report considered the completion, timing, and order of these milestones, including high … Read more

What does capping child care co-pays look like in each state?

A new resource published by CLASP provides a state-by-state analysis of the Child Care for Working Families Act’s sliding scale co-payment proposal. The act would cap out-of-pocket child care costs for families earning less than 150 percent of their state’s median income with co-pays varying across four levels. For instance, families earning less than 75 … Read more

Five policy proposals to help time-squeezed parents

In an August article, Brookings researchers outline a variety of policy options to better support working parents and other caregivers. To reduce the “timesqueeze,” authors suggest providing workers a minimum of 20 days of paid leave for any reason. This time could be used to meet caregiving demands or for selfcare. As workers tend to … Read more

Findings from a partnership to support Detroit’s informal child care providers

A new brief from Mathematica details findings from their recent partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and three community serving organizations in Detroit. As part of the Foundation’s work to increase access to ECE among Detroit families, this partnership offered child development knowledge and skills programming to 70 informal child care providers in Detroit (all … Read more