The District of Columbia Child Care Policy Research Partnership is an active collaboration between the Urban Institute and the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), DC’s Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency. Ongoing since 2019, the Partnership brings new data and evidence to questions about access to a supply of quality child care for District children and families.
The Partnership has three main study components:
- An implementation study of Capital Quality, the District’s enhanced Quality Rating and Improvement System
- An implementation study of the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, a landmark initiative to advance pay parity between early childhood educators and public school teachers
- A study of new parents of “pandemic babies,” whose child care decisionmaking is happening in the wake of COVID-19
The Partnership will generate research products to inform policy and programmatic efforts in the District of Columbia and advance the field nationwide. Links in the left navigation panel provide more information on each study component, including study publications.
The District of Columbia Child Care Policy Research Partnership is supported by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of two financial assistance awards (Grants #90YE0221 and #90YE0284) totaling $3.2 million, fully funded by ACF/HHS. Study findings are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACF/HHS, or the U.S. Government. Please visit the ACF website, Administrative and National Policy Requirements, for more information. The Partnership and is a member of the Child Care Research and Evaluation Capacity Building Center Community of Practice.
Project leadership
Heather Sandstrom, Principal Investigator
Erica Greenberg, Co-Principal Investigator
Diane Schilder, Senior Advisor
Justin Doromal, Task Leader
Catherine Kuhns, Task Leader