Learning from and conducting high-quality, rigorous analysis is a growing part of Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies’ work as they seek to improve services for children, families, and providers. With the right tools, resources, and supports, CCDF Lead Agencies in states, Tribes, and territories can use data and evidence to make informed policy decisions and continue to improve their child care and early education programs.
The Urban Institute, in partnership with Mathematica, and with funding from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services, operates the Center to Support Research and Evaluation Capacity of CCDF Lead Agencies (CSRE) to:
- foster shared learning and collaboration through OPRE-funded researcher-agency partnerships in communities of practice,
- create guides and other resources to share best practices and insights from child care research partnerships,
- leverage cross-site data, and
- synthesize and communicate research findings that can advance the early childhood education field.
What is the CSRE?
The Urban Institute, in partnership with Mathematica, provides child care research and evaluation capacity-building resources for CCDF Lead Agencies and their research partners through the CSRE cooperative agreement (2022–27).
This work, funded from 2022–27, builds upon two earlier contracts, the Center for Supporting Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Implementation (2016–22) and the Child Care Research and Evaluation Capacity Building Center (2019–24). Tools, resources, and materials found on these web pages were supported by one or more of these OPRE-funded centers.
What are the main activities of the CSRE?
Build Research and Evaluation Capacities: Through facilitation of multiple Communities of Practice (CoPs) and developing resources, the CSRE builds the capacity of CCDF lead agencies and researchers to collaboratively produce research that answers policy questions. This happens through peer learning and feedback, cross-site collaboration, and development of methodological, content, and policy expertise. The insights gathered through the CoPs add value to the federal grants and produce value beyond the life of the grant. The CSRE develops guides and resources for CCDF lead agencies and child care researchers using the insights from CoPs—often doing so in collaboration with the partnership teams.
and meet the partnership teams.
Advance Evidence and Research: The CSRE leverages data across teams to maximize opportunities for timely, cross-site research and to analyze and synthesize cross-state and Tribal questions of interest.
and education research.
Share Research-Agency Partnership Teams’ Research: The CSRE ensures findings from across the researcher–agency partnership teams and CoPs are shared to CCDF lead agencies, child care researchers, and anyone interested in learning about the latest research related to early childhood care and education. We elevate insights that cross localities and teams, so CCDF lead agencies and their research partners can benefit from timely evidence-based insights. The CSRE also provides trainings and guides to help teams disseminate their products and resources for impact.
for a selection of insights from partnership teams.
This website is supported by Grant Number 90YE0293 from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE).
