REFINE AND EXPAND THE OFFICE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND EARLY LEARNING’S EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH AGENDA

Pennsylvania Department Of Human Services, Harrisburg PA

Investigators

Abstract

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning provides support, resources, and programmatic oversight for early care and education programs in Pennsylvania through the Departments of Education and Human Services. In this governance structure, OCDEL is accountable to both agency secretaries in the implementation and oversight of services for Pennsylvania children, their families delivered through a combination of evidence-based home visiting, infants, through school age child care, state-funded preschool, and Early Intervention Services Parts B and C. OCDEL will use the CCDBG Implementation Research and Evaluation Phase I/Cohort 2 Planning Grant to identify a research consultant, refine and expand the current research agenda to address the following (1) evaluate the impact of systems consolidation and change for supporting families and child care providers, including those that receive CCDBG funds;(2) evaluate the impact of child care policy change, based on the CCDBG Act of 2014, that better supports the child?s experience in early care and education and the corresponding fiscal impact; (3) evaluate the impact of revising Pennsylvania's quality rating and improvement system, Keystone STARS, has on provider participation and movement within the quality continuum; (4) validate the revised Keystone STARS Levels as indicators of quality; and (5) establish data regarding the impact of Pennsylvania?s funding approach for child care subsidy and quality add-ons on the capacity of child care providers across care levels from infant through school age. As part of the CCDBG Implementation Research and Evaluation Grant, the results of this planning grant will establish a broader research framework. This will allow the office to prioritize resources for future internal and independent research opportunities, and will embed the results of the planning grant process into its annual strategic plan and as appropriate revise our CCDBG State Plan to address activities or recommendations identified in the process. OCDEL has a research agenda that heavily focuses on recommendations involving short and long-term child outcomes. OCDEL would like to include an evaluation of Pennsylvania?s success in meeting our plan?s identified goals and targets of provider growth and capacity building while working at the same time to enhance and align the quality of services, link comprehensive services to children in child care settings, and develop an increased supply of quality care for vulnerable populations.