A new report from Mathematica evaluates results from Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grants. These grants aimed to increase the share of early childhood education programs that use a quality ratings system and that are highly scored in those systems. The grants did indeed meet this goal, but the report finds that children in higher-quality programs did not have better developmental outcomes than children in lower-rated programs. The authors suggest that program-level improvements related to management and administration may improve program quality but may not directly translate to improved outcomes for children.
