Department of Health and Human Services
	Research, Demonstration, and Evaluation Activities FY 2003 Plan and Budget February 2002

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RESEARCH AND DEMONSTRATIONS

(by HHS Strategic Plan Objective)

IMPROVE THE HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING READINESS OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN (OBJECTIVE 2.3)

FY 2003 Priorities

CHILD CARE RESEARCH AND EVALUATION FUND (ACF)

Research: Funding will facilitate the continuation of child care research to develop critically needed information about child care and its effects on child development and family well-being while assisting low income families to work. These investments will assist in developing data and information on innovative strategies for meeting the needs of low income families; the effects of child care on child development, well-being, and school readiness; the links between child care and workforce success; strategies for improving child care quality as well as caregiver training and compensation; and the most effective ways to meet the specific needs of infants, toddlers, children with disabilities, and other groups of families and children, including those living in rural areas. Research initiatives include:

• the National Child Care Research Collaborative and Archive designed to increase the quantity, quality, usefulness and value of research for child care policy, practice and public information.
• support to the Science and Ecology of Early Development (SEED) and its efforts to support research related to literacy and school readiness.
• field initiated research projects and dissertation scholarships toward a better understanding of child care issues, e.g. parental choice, availability of child care, child care staffing issues, impacts on the quality of child care, and developmental outcomes for children.
• State child care data and research capacity projects to support State efforts to use the administrative data to conduct research leading to better understanding of child care services and systems and improved services to families and children.

Demonstrations: These funds will be used to develop and test child care policies and initiatives, identifying critical issues, as well as promising policies related to child care, affordability, flexibility, and availability.

Evaluations: Evaluations will examine the impact of various child care policies and programs; evaluation work will be designed to increase our knowledge about the efficacy of policies and programs in providing positive outcomes for children and helping low income families obtain and retain work. The impact and benefits of alternative child care subsidy policies will be measured under rigorous experimental conditions.

Examples of policy topics that lend themselves to evaluation include: eligibility limits and periods, waiting lists, family co-payments, provider reimbursement rates, caregiver background checks, provider monitoring, incentive payments for enhanced quality, and provider training requirements.

(This evaluation work is also related to objective 2.1.)

HEAD START (ACF)

Research: Head Start will continue efforts related to conducting the new research studies required by the recent revisions to the Head Start Act. These studies will include:

• efforts to measure the effects of the Head Start experience for both children and their families, using information derived from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES);
• support for research activities on various critical issues such as infant-toddler development, emerging literacy, mental health, curriculum, and assessment for Head Start and early childhood development.
• Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies of 25,000 children of whom an estimated 3,000 are former Head Start children assessing children at kindergarten entry and continue through the fifth grade and a longitudinal nationally representative study of approximately 12,000 children who are being followed from birth through the early elementary school years (Department of Education collaboration).

Evaluations: These funds will be used to continue:

• a multi-year effort to conduct a longitudinal study on the implementation and effectiveness of the Early Head Start program and determine what impact it has on the lives of the children and families served by the program; and
• the National Head Start impact study which will examine both the short and long-term impacts in the development and school readiness of low income children in the Head Start program.