Project Child HANDS

The Virginia Office of Early Childhood Development, in collaboration with the Virginia Departments of Social Services and Education and researchers at Virginia Tech, has received funding from the Office of Research, Evaluation and Planning in the Administration of Children and Families (HHS) to build a state-wide, interactive, web-based data system for the developing comprehensive early childhood system of care and education. The three-year grant focuses primarily on

developing the data infrastructure necessary to examine policy and evaluation questions pertaining to child care quality.

This development will be initialy driven by a focus on child care quality as it relates to demographic information and pre-kindergarten and kindergarten outcomes, primarily for low-income children. Additional information regarding health and related factors, at all income levels, will be added as available.

The goal of the project is the build a system that is flexible and helpful to localities as well as to state policymakers and developmental, health and education researchers.

Background and Rationale

In the past several years, Virginia has committed itself to an extensive review and restructuring of its early childhood resources, with the goal of developing an intentional, coordinated system of early childhood care and education (Lamb, 2007; Start Strong Council, 2006). As outlined in the Child Care and Development Fund Plan for Virginia 2008-09 (Virginia Department of Social Services, 2007), initiatives were developed that focused on a range of components shown to be integral to an integrated system. These include, but are not limited, to: Alignment of developmental goals, communication, priorities, and teacher training among agencies, child care professionals, educators and other stakeholders (Childhood Alignment Project, 2006; Milestones of Early Childhood Development, 2007); developing a statewide early childhood career lattice, educational programs and state higher education articulation agreements; expansion of preschool opportunities and delivery systems for at-risk children (Start Strong Council, 2006; Bradburn, Hawdon & Sedgwick, 2007); and development and piloting of a sophisticated, results-oriented child care quality rating system (Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS); Governor's Working Group, 2007).

Federal Child Care and Development Funds (CCDF) helped the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) serve as a partner with other government and community groups in developing and implementing these exciting advances. Many of these quality improvement initiatives are directly targeted toward improving the quality of child care and early education opportunities for low-income families who qualify for child care subsidies. Research indicates such a strategy pays multiple dividends, in both the short- and long-term. In the short term, parents are able to work or train more effectively knowing their children are well provided for. In the long-term, high quality early care and preschool offers educational advantages across the primary and secondary school years. Virginia's commitment to investing in improved child care and opportunities for its children is reflected in the recent creation of a new office, the Office of Early Childhood Development, to serve as a liaison between the two state agencies most directly responsible for early childhood services, VDSS and the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). In the near future, this Office will be responsible for managing a coordinated system of early childhood care and education. A critical component of this plan is the development and maintenance of a sustainable, flexible, integrated data system to enable state secretariats, legislators and agency commissioners to make informed policy decisions based on timely, valid information.

Through this research cooperative agreement grant, we will begin to develop this system, through the creation of a Child Care Research and Analysis Unit. Currently, data are fragmented and of variable quality. A central aim is to achieve an operating system of valid and reliable data that will enable us to assess the impact of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) on improving the quality of care available and utilized by low-income working parents and at-risk families to support parental outcomes and child well-being. More specifically, we plan to build a data and research infrastructure that integrates information from multiple sources regarding child care quality and related factors that will enable us to address these questions:

1. What kinds of preschools/child care are children who receive CCDF subsidies and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) attending?
2. What is the quality of that preschool/care?
3. Are there differences in type and quality of care depending on ethnicity, locality, home language or other demographic factors?
4. How are these children faring in kindergarten, and how is that related to the programs they attended prior to kindergarten?

Project Phases

The first phase of the project is to canvass agencies and groups across the Commonwealth that are engaged in early childhood activities and collecting data on these activities. The project team is surveying local DSS agencies, school districts and private child care providers, as well as meeting with interested parties, such as Smart Beginnings coalitions, local R&Rs, and other stakeholders, to explain the project and inventory data.

The second phase of the project is to start to build the system, working with a cohort of groups who want to join in the first trial wave. Protecting the confidentiality of participants and sharing data securely are of primary importance. The project has been approved by the Institutional Review Boards for the Protection of Human Subjects of both Virginia Tech and the Virginia Department of Social Services.