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This project examined the implementation of student threat assessment in Florida public schools. Researchers investigated threat assessment training and implementation, which types of threat cases schools experienced, and how cases were resolved. This project used a mixed-method approach with four broad research questions: (1) What are stakeholder reactions to training and implementation of threat assessment in their school? (2) What are the characteristics of threat assessments conducted in Florida public schools? (3) What relationships exist among academic, disciplinary, and legal outcomes for students receiving a threat assessment? (4) Are there adverse disparities in student outcomes associated with race, ethnicity, or special education status?

The data produced by this study include three Case Data datasets (DS1-3), comprised of Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) case data on student threats from the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years; two Training Survey Data datasets (DS4/5), containing results from surveys of participants who completed Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) trainings; and Needs Assessment Survey Data (DS6) from a survey of district school safety leads assessing needs and concerns about their district's threat assessment process.

The Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) study was a randomized controlled trial of the Nemours BrightStart! (NBS!) program. It was implemented as a small-group intervention to promote the emergent literacy skills of prekindergarten (PreK) children at risk for reading difficulties.

In this project, the researchers studied short- and long- term impacts of NBS!, including whether it reduced the reading achievement gap. Study participants included three sequential cohorts of teachers and children, and consisted of classrooms from state and local prekindergarten programs.

Classrooms were randomly assigned to one of the three study conditions:

• NBS! teacher implemented (in which the classroom teacher provided treatment)
• NBS! community aide implemented (in which treatment was provided by a community aide)
• business-as-usual control.

The study involved 290 children with full battery of assessments (plus 281 children with a partial battery) enrolled in 98 prekindergarten classrooms. Data were collected from 2016-2020.

The Children's Futures initiative was designed to enhance the health and well-being of children from birth to age three in Trenton, New Jersey through three major strategies: (1) Improving access to prenatal care and strengthening effective parenting; (2) Improving the quality of child care; and (3) Strengthening and sustaining positive involvement of fathers in their children's lives. As part of the initiative, data were simultaneously collected to assess the effectiveness of the initiative.

The data collection efforts included a baseline survey of the Trenton community conducted in 2002 and surveys of Trenton child care providers conducted in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In addition, births records for Trenton, Camden, and Newark were obtained from the New Jersey State Department of Health. These survey and birth records data were released as ICPSR 21640: Evaluation of Children's Futures: Improving Health and Development Outcomes for Children in Trenton, New Jersey, 2001-2005. The data from the 2002 community survey represents a baseline picture of the primary caregivers of children ages 0-5 in Trenton on a set of outcomes, among them parenting behaviors and strategies that the initiative hoped to influence.

This data collection contains the data from two follow-up community surveys. Like the baseline community survey, the follow-up surveys interviewed the primary caregivers of children aged 0-5 in Trenton households about child and parental health, parenting practices, fathers' involvement in their children's lives, health insurance and health care utilization, attendance at parenting groups or classes, and utilization of child care. In addition, the surveys collected information on country of birth, year of immigration, race, Hispanic origin, education, employment status, alcohol use, earnings, and household income.

The community surveys followed a repeated cross-sectional design. That is, individual community residents were not followed over time; rather, at each wave of data collection, a new sample of respondents were interviewed.

The Early Care and Education Leadership Study (ExCELS) was funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The project team was led by Mathematica and the Institute for Early Education Leadership and Innovation at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

The project included a descriptive study with the following goals: (1) establish a measure of early care and education (ECE) leadership in center-based settings that serve children birth through age five (not yet in kindergarten) that meets standards for reliability and validity to support its intended use and (2) examine empirical support for the associations among key constructs and outcomes in the theory of change of ECE leadership for quality improvement. Research questions focused on understanding the three key elements that define what leadership in center-based ECE settings looks like: (1) who leaders are, (2) what individuals bring to leadership, and (3) what ECE staff do as leaders.

From February through July 2022, the study team recruited 132 ECE centers across four states that served children from birth through age 5 (who are not yet in kindergarten), and that were supported by Head Start grants or Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidies. From March through August 2022, the study team conducted phone interviews to collect center characteristics and learn about the center's staffing structure and leadership positions, and distributed surveys to center managers and teaching staff in recruited centers.

The User's Guide for this study can be obtained by selecting "Documentation Only" from the Download tab on this study homepage. The User's Guide and all ExCELS documentation will download in one zip file.

The purpose of this project was to better understand how to improve children's transitions from Head Start programs to elementary schools. Central to this project was a systems approach that recognizes that effective transitions require intentional engagement from both the sending programs (Head Start) and the receiving programs (elementary schools). This approach also recognized that transition strategies and practices must be implemented at multiple levels - among classroom teachers in Head Start and kindergarten, families, elementary school principals and Head Start directors, Head Start grantees and school districts, and state and federal agencies. Specifically, the project aimed to explore the definition of "successful transitions" by addressing the following research questions:

1. What strategies and practices are Head Start programs implementing to support children as they transition from Head Start to kindergarten? What is the content, quality, and quantity of these strategies and practices? How are they experienced by children, families, teachers, and other direct service providers?
2. What characterizes relationships/partnerships among Head Start programs, elementary schools, and other community partners that support children's successful transitions from Head Start to kindergarten? What are the specific facilitators of, and barriers to, successful transitions?
3. What are the key perceived short- and long-term outcomes of transition strategies and practices for children, families, Head Start teachers, and kindergarten teachers? What are the key contextual factors and mechanisms that result in these key perceived outcomes?

This project included several key tasks, including a review of the knowledge base, the development of a theory of change, a scan of existing measures and data sources to determine alignment with the theory of change, the development of new measures based on gaps identified in the measures scan, and the implementation of a comparative multi-case study.

The Kidsteps II Project tested the efficacy of the Second Step Early Learning (SSEL) curriculum in improving children's social-emotional skills (SE), executive functioning (EF), and school readiness skills in preschool relative to usual curricular frameworks, and the predictive power of the intervention on kindergarten readiness and kindergarten success. Kidsteps II, a 4-year study funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, included 67 classrooms randomly assigned to one of two, two-year cohorts. In each cohort, half of the classrooms were randomly assigned to receive the SSEL curriculum (intervention condition), and half continued usual practices (control/comparison condition). Teachers in intervention classrooms were provided with training and implementation support for two years. Teachers in both conditions completed social skills rating scales on participating children at the beginning and end of the year (n=1497). Parent reports of children's social skills were also obtained for 725 children. Four-year-old children entering kindergarten the following year (n=978) were individually tested on social skills, executive functioning, and academic skills at the beginning and end of their pre-k year. Additional classroom observation and coded lesson plans documented fidelity, implementation, classroom climate, and classroom quality. Intervention teachers also completed weekly measures of curriculum implementation. Pre-k children from the first three years of the study were followed into kindergarten, and kindergarten teachers completed social skills rating scales and academic readiness mid-year, and school records were obtained for kindergarten screening scores, special services received during kindergarten, and promotion to first grade. The study addressed the following questions:

• Does SSEL improve children's social emotional skills, executive functioning, and school readiness skills as measured by teachers and independent assessors in preschool compared to classrooms not using SSEL?
• Do children participating in SSEL classrooms have stronger school system administered kindergarten readiness screenings, better kindergarten teacher-rated social skills and academic competency, and higher 1st grade promotion compared to children entering from comparison classrooms?
• To what extent are kindergarten readiness screenings and kindergarten teacher's ratings of social skills and academic competence mediated by preschool children's social emotional skills and executive functioning?
• Is there an effect of SSEL on preschool classroom climate?

The Carolina Abecedarian (ABC) Project and the Carolina Approach to Responsive Education (CARE) projects consist of two consecutive longitudinal studies on the effectiveness of early childhood educational intervention for children at high risk for developmental delays and school failure. Combined, the two studies test the hypothesis that child care, home visit, and home school resource interventions can enhance cognitive and academic outcomes for children at risk for school failure due to factors such as poverty, low maternal IQ, or low parental education. These studies provide the only experimental data regarding the efficacy of child care interventions that began during early infancy and lasted until the child entered kindergarten. In addition, the data allow for tests of the efficacy of intervention during the primary grades.

Research hypotheses include:

• Within this high-risk sample, early cumulative risk will be negatively associated with young adult educational outcomes, employment outcomes, avoidance of teen parenthood, and avoidance of criminal behavior.
• Early intervention will moderate the effects of risk such that the effects of increased risk would be weaker for those who received the intervention than for those who did not.
• The early home environment would mediate any found effects for early risk and that early educational intervention would moderate the effects of the early home environment such that the effects of a poor-quality home environment would be weaker for those who received treatment compared to those who did not.

Demographic variables included in this collection: gender, age, level of education.

The Office of Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) provides comprehensive data on the services, staff, children, and families served by Head Start and Early Head Start programs nationwide. All grantees and delegates are required to submit PIR for Head Start and Early Head Start Programs. PIR data is compiled for use at the federal, regional, state, and local level.

The PIR collects data on child, staff, and family demographics and program characteristics including data on physical health, mental health, disabilities, and family services. All of this data is aggregated and reported by each program to the Office of Head Start.

This project allowed the Maryland State Department of Education to accomplish two objectives:

1. Enhance, merge and expand existing databases on early childhood education and care.
2. Use those databases to understand the effects of the child care subsidy program on children's school readiness at kindergarten entry in Maryland.

The first part of the project involved integrating existing state databases, including those of the child care subsidy program, licensing and credentialing programs, and the Maryland Model for School Readiness kindergarten assessment data as outcome measures. It also included negotiating to gain access to relevant additional databases, including those of the Resource and Referral agencies, Head Start organizations, public pre-K, etc. This was done under the advisement of a Research Advisory Group, composed of state staff, university and research partners, out-of-state advisors, and representatives of local provider groups.

In the second part of the project, as a result of the increased capability to study the connections between child care subsidies, licensing compliance, credentialing and accreditation, and school readiness, analysis of the merged data addressed such questions as:

1. How are parents of four year old children using child care subsidies?
2. Is there a significant association between child care subsidies and children's school readiness upon entering kindergarten?
3. What is the availability of child care providers accepting subsidies in the state of Maryland?
4. What are the associations between child care subsidies, type of child care arrangement used, and children's kindergarten readiness scores?

The Simmons Longitudinal Study (SLS) is a community-based study that has prospectively traced the life course of a single-aged cohort from childhood (age 5) to adulthood (age 26). Data were collected from multiple informants at seven major time points: age 5 (1977), age 6 (1978), age 9 (1980-1981), age 15 (1987), age 18 (1990), age 21 (1993-1994), and age 26 (1998). Since its inception in 1977, the SLS has utilized a multidisciplinary, multimethod approach, with the dual goals of: (1) tracing the development and course of academic difficulties, behavior problems, and psychopathology; and (2) identifying factors that promote health functioning from early childhood (age 5) to adulthood (age 26). The SLS has consistently emphasized the identification of modifiable social and environmental risk and protective factors that can be targeted directly in prevention and intervention programs. To date, SLS has published 50 journal articles and 9 book chapters. For this wave of the study, Wave 1, the original study group was comprised of every child who entered kindergarten in the fall of 1977 in one public school district in a northeastern town in the United States. Each child participated in state-mandated testing of health and development three months before the start of school. The mothers of respondents also completed questionnaires assessing demographics, health history, development, and behavior of their children.

The Carolina Abecedarian (ABC) Project and the Carolina Approach to Responsive Education (CARE) projects consist of two consecutive longitudinal studies on the effectiveness of early childhood educational intervention for children at high risk for developmental delays and school failure. Combined, the two studies test the hypothesis that child care, home visit, and home school resource interventions can enhance cognitive and academic outcomes for children at risk for school failure due to factors such as poverty, low maternal IQ, or low parental education. These studies provide the only experimental data regarding the efficacy of child care interventions that began during early infancy and lasted until the child entered kindergarten. In addition, the data allow for tests of the efficacy of intervention during the primary grades.

Research hypotheses include:

1. Within this high-risk sample, early cumulative risk will be negatively associated with young adult educational outcomes, employment outcomes, avoidance of teen parenthood, and avoidance of criminal behavior.
2. Early intervention will moderate the effects of risk such that the effects of increased risk would be weaker for those who received the intervention than for those who did not.
3. The early home environment would mediate any found effects for early risk and that early educational intervention would moderate the effects of the early home environment such that the effects of a poor-quality home environment would be weaker for those who received treatment compared to those who did not.

Further information can be found on the Carolina Abecedarian Project Web site.

Young children are spending increasingly greater hours in early care and education. While research has clearly documented the importance of the quality of these experiences (National Research Council, 2000), more research is needed in several key areas.

This study is an assessment of the impact of varying hours of early care and education on children's school readiness, and the specific factors in both infant and preschool classrooms that promote school readiness, using two samples: one group of 242 children attending child care centers that have been followed since infancy (Family Income, Infant Child Care, and Child Development Study); and another group of 130 children attending child care centers primarily serving low-income families.

A developmental-ecological conceptual framework was employed, which considered the influence of ecological contexts on children's developmental trajectories. The following school readiness outcomes were assessed:

1. language development and communication
2. cognition and general knowledge, including early math
3. social and emotional development
4. approaches to learning
5. health and physical development

Additional information is available on the Massachusetts Early Care and Education and School Readiness Study Web site.

The Massachusetts Family Child Care study is a two-year evaluation, conducted by Abt Associates Inc, the Manpower Development Research Corporation (MDRC) and the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP), of the impacts of the LearningGames program on providers and children in family child care. LearningGames is designed to train caregivers to stimulate children's cognitive, language, and social-emotional development through a set of 200 simple games that encourage intensive, one-on-one interactions as a platform that allows the adult to engage the child in meaningful conversation, to listen to the child and respond to the child's questions and actions, and to scaffold and build on the child's growing skills at using and understanding language. The goal of LearningGames is to increase the frequency of rich language interactions between caregivers and children due to the importance of oral language development in children's understanding of words and concepts, in their ability to become competent readers, and in their long-term academic success and of the role played by rich language stimulation in promoting children's development. This evaluation of LearningGames examines the effectiveness of the program in changing the behavior of the family child care providers and the developmental outcomes for the children who are cared for by providers trained on LearningGames.

Baseline data were collected in the summer of 2005 with follow up observations taking place in the fall of 2006 and again in the winter of 2007. Of the 55 family child care provider networks in Massachusetts, 16 were sampled, resulting in 1,250 children enrolled in 353 study homes, though the study suffered a heavy overall attrition rate of 58 percent.

The data are provided in four data sets, one file containing data on the providers, a baseline observations file and two annual follow ups. The provider file (2005 Provider Data), includes data on: the provider's years of experience in family child care, their reasons for working as a family child care provider, what they would change about their job, what they believe is their responsibility for the children, their educational background, their age, sex, and race, the languages that they speak at home, the languages that they speak with the children in their care, and the types of materials that they read. Due to the descriptive sensitivity of the variables, this dataset requires a signed user agreement to access. All other datasets are publically available. The observation files include data from several measures: the QUEST Caregiver Rating Scale (subset of items), the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale, the revised Snapshot of Activities (from the OMLIT), the Read-Aloud Profile (from the OMLIT), and the TALK.The data include: the amount of time the provider shows interest in what children say or do, whether or not the provider seems to enjoy children, the average number of activities observed, the amount of read-alouds where the provider relates the book to group activities prior to reading the book, and whether or not the provider encourages children to do activities on their own.

Early Head Start (EHS) programs are comprehensive, two-generation programs that focus on enhancing children's development while strengthening families. Designed for low-income pregnant women and families with infants and toddlers up to age 3, Early Head Start programs strive to achieve their goals by designing program options based on family and community needs. Programs may offer one or more options to families, including a home-based option, a center-based option, a combination option in which families receive a prescribed number of home visits and center-based experiences, and locally designed options, which in some communities include family child care.

The Early Head Start Research and Evaluation (EHSRE) Study was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) and included five major components: (1) an implementation study; (2) an impact evaluation, using an experimental design; (3) local research studies to learn about pathways to desired outcomes; (4) policy studies to respond to information needs in areas of emerging policy-relevant issues; and (5) continuous program improvement. The study involved 3,001 children and families in 17 sites representing diverse program models, racial/ethnic makeup, urban-rural location, program auspice, and program experience in serving infants and toddlers. Three phases comprise the collection: Birth to Three ("0-3"), Pre-Kindergarten ("PreK") Follow-up and the Elementary School ("G5") Follow-up. A brief description of each phase is provided below:

• Birth to Three Phase (1996-2001): included a cross-site national study that encompassed an Impact Evaluation and Implementation Study that investigated program impacts on children and families through their time in the program as well as site-specific research conducted by local research projects.
• Pre-Kindergarten Follow-up Phase (2001-2005) : built upon the earlier research and followed the children and families who were in the original study from the time they left the Early Head Start program until they entered kindergarten. It was designed to document the long-term consequences of receiving either Early Head Start services or other community services up until age 3 combined with subsequent Head Start or other formal early care and education programs on children's school readiness and parent functioning.
• Elementary School Follow-up Phase (2005-2010): assessed children and families when the children were fifth graders or attending their sixth year of formal schooling. The study included direct assessments of children's cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical development; parent interviews; teacher questionnaires; and videotaping of maternal-child interactions.

The Early Head Start findings are based on a mixture of direct child assessments, observations of children's behavior by in-person interviewers, ratings of videotaped parent-child interactions in standardized ways, ratings of children's behaviors by their parents, and parents' self-reports of their own behaviors, attitudes, and circumstances. Data in this collection were constructed by the Mathematica Policy Research (MPR) researchers for use in their analyses. Very few of the original source variables are present in this public-use file. The constructs came from several data sources:

1. Baseline data, which were collected from the Head Start Family Information System (HSFIS) program application and enrollment forms and the MPR Tracking System. These data contain information on the program status of each case, characteristics of the applicant, mother, and focus child from the MPR Tracking System, summary variables pertaining to all family members, and information on the father, on family circumstances, on the mother's pregnancy, and on the focus child.

2. Parent services follow-up interviews (PSI) targeted for 6, 15, and 26 months after random assignment. These data contain information on use of services both in and outside of Early Head Start, progress toward economic self-sufficiency, family health, and children's health.

3. Parent interviews (BPI) targeted for completion when children were 14, 24, and 36 months old. These interviews obtained a large amount of information from the primary caregivers about their child's development and family functioning. Specific questions asked of parents in the parent interview included items about raising a baby, child's health, household composition, child care, mother figure, father figure, family routines, parents' and parent-child activities, child behavior, and stressful events.

4. Child and family assessments targeted for administration when children were 14, 24, and 36 months old. Field interviewers recorded information from their observations of children's behavior and home environments. Direct child assessments included Bayley Assessments, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Tests (PPVTs), and videotaped semi-structured parent-child interactions.

5. Child care provider interviews and observations targeted for administration when children were 14, 24, and 36 months old. Interview and observation data were collected from child care providers for children who were in child care arrangements that met particular criteria when they were approximately 14, 24 and 36 months old. Different data collection instruments were used for children in child care centers and children cared for by family child care providers or relatives. Data from both types of providers may be used together for some types of analyses.

6. Father interviews targeted for collection when children were 24 and 36 months old. In addition to asking mothers about their child's father, biological fathers and father figures in 12 sites were interviewed directly about fathering issues at the time of the 24- and 36-month birthday-related interviews (but not when children were 14 months old).

Starting with the Family Support Act of 1988, requirements for federal funding stipulate that child care subsidy rates be informed by market rates. In 1990 the federal government began a major investment in child care with the passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990. Support of parental choice was a key component of this new block grant program that sent new money to states to support child care. Parental choice and state control of policy remained central when the program was expanded in 1996 as a part of welfare reform legislation. At that time, child care funding became known as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).

States are required by the CCDF Final Rule to ensure that families receiving child care assistance have equal access to comparable care purchased by private-paying parents. A market rate survey (MRS) is a tool States use to achieve this program objective. Some States conduct surveys to collect the child care market rate and others use administrative data, such as data collected by child care resource and referral (CCR&R) and State licensing agencies, to analyze the market rate for child care.

This survey was one strategy used to collect child care market price data. Comparing findings garnered from different methods allows one to evaluate whether different data collection methods produce different price findings (convergent validity) and how well these data collection methods represent the child care market (criterion-related validity). These data can also be used to explore several validity issues of concern with market price studies.

The major areas of investigation in this survey include child care prices by type of care, geographic location, and price mode (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly). Other areas of investigation include capacity by age group, additional fees facilities charge, whether they care for subsidized children, and what affects the prices that they charge parents.

Starting with the Family Support Act of 1988, requirements for federal funding stipulate that child care subsidy rates be informed by market rates. In 1990 the federal government began a major investment in child care with the passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990. Support of parental choice was a key component of this new block grant program that sent new money to states to support child care. Parental choice and state control of policy remained central when the program was expanded in 1996 as a part of welfare reform legislation. At that time, child care funding became known as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).

States are required by the CCDF Final Rule to ensure that families receiving child care assistance have equal access to comparable care purchased by private-paying parents. A market rate survey (MRS) is a tool States use to achieve this program objective. Some States conduct surveys to collect the child care market rate and others use administrative data, such as data collected by child care resource and referral (CCR&R) and State licensing agencies, to analyze the market rate for child care.

This survey was one strategy used to collect child care market price data. Comparing findings garnered from different methods allows one to evaluate whether different data collection methods produce different price findings (convergent validity) and how well these data collection methods represent the child care market (criterion-related validity). These data can also be used to explore several validity issues of concern with market price studies.

The major areas of investigation in this survey include child care prices by type of care, geographic location, and price mode (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly). Other areas of investigation include capacity by age group, additional fees facilities charge, whether they care for subsidized children, and what affects the prices that they charge parents.

Starting with the Family Support Act of 1988, requirements for federal funding stipulate that child care subsidy rates be informed by market rates. In 1990 the federal government began a major investment in child care with the passage of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990. Support of parental choice was a key component of this new block grant program that sent new money to states to support child care. Parental choice and state control of policy remained central when the program was expanded in 1996 as a part of welfare reform legislation. At that time, child care funding became known as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).

States are required by the CCDF Final Rule to ensure that families receiving child care assistance have equal access to comparable care purchased by private-paying parents. A market rate survey (MRS) is a tool States use to achieve this program objective. Some States conduct surveys to collect the child care market rate and others use administrative data, such as data collected by child care resource and referral (CCR&R) and State licensing agencies, to analyze the market rate for child care.

This survey was one strategy used to collect child care market price data. Comparing findings garnered from different methods allows one to evaluate whether different data collection methods produce different price findings (convergent validity) and how well these data collection methods represent the child care market (criterion-related validity). These data can also be used to explore several validity issues of concern with market price studies.

The major areas of investigation in this survey include child care prices by type of care, geographic location, and price mode (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly). Other areas of investigation include capacity by age group, additional fees facilities charge, whether they care for subsidized children, and what affects the prices that they charge parents.

These data were collected for the initial phase of the evaluation of the Children's Futures initiative, a comprehensive set of interventions aimed at improving child health and development outcomes from prenatal to age three in Trenton, New Jersey. To that end, the initiative worked to (1) improve access to prenatal care and strengthen effective parenting, (2) improve the quality of child care, and (3) strengthen and sustain positive involvement of fathers in their children's lives. As part of the evaluation, a baseline community survey and surveys of childcare providers were conducted and births records were obtained from the New Jersey State Department of Health.

Extracted from New Jersey vital events public-use data files, Datasets 1-3 contain information on births during 2001-2004 to women in Trenton and, for comparison, two New Jersey cities not covered by the intervention, Camden and Newark. The birth records data include sex, birth order, birth weight, gestational age, one-minute and five-minute APGAR scores, month of pregnancy when prenatal care began, number of prenatal visits, weight gained during pregnancy, medical risk factors for the pregnancy, obstetric procedures performed, delivery complications, congenital anomalies and abnormalities, mother's marital status and number of live births now living, and the parents' age, race, Hispanic origin, state/country of birth, and education.

Dataset 4 contains data from the baseline community survey, which in 2002 interviewed the primary caregivers of children aged 0-5 in Trenton households. The survey collected information about child and parental health, parenting practices, fathers' involvement in their children's lives, health insurance and health care utilization, attendance at parenting groups or classes, and utilization of child care. Additional information collected by the baseline survey includes United States nativity, year of immigration, race, Hispanic origin, education, employment status, alcohol use, illicit drug use, earnings, and household income.

Datasets 5-7 contain data from the childcare provider surveys conducted in 2003, 2004, and 2005, which collected information about the teachers and childcare providers in the Trenton childcare centers that were participating in Children's Futures. Respondents were questioned about their work experience, age, race, place of residence (ZIP code), education, credentials, position held and hours worked, languages spoken, salary/hourly rate for the job at the center, childcare training and practices, opinions about center staffing levels, and beliefs about how to help infants and toddlers learn and grow. In addition, the respondents were asked how prepared they were to work with infants or toddlers with certain conditions such as emotional disturbances, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD), fetal alcohol syndrome, asthma, severe allergies, and developmental delays.

The National Household Education Survey (NHES) reports on the condition of education in the United States by collecting data at the household level rather than using a traditional, school-based data collection system. The surveys attempt to address many current issues in education, such as preprimary education, school safety and discipline, adult education, and activities related to citizenship.

This survey included three topical survey components.

• The Early Childhood Program Participation Survey addressed the nonparental care and program participation of preschool children, that is, children from birth through age six and not yet enrolled in kindergarten or higher grades. The survey collected information on all of the child's current, regular care arrangements, such as care by a relative or by someone not related to the child, in a private home as well as at a day care center or preschool, including Head Start. Information was collected about the number of hours per week or per month that the child received nonparental care, as well as parental perceptions of the factors associated with choosing such care. Other information was collected on topics such as educational activities at home, emerging literacy and numeracy, the child's characteristics (including health and disability status), and parent/guardian and household characteristics. Interviews were completed with parents of 7,209 preschool children.

• The After-School Programs and Activities Survey focused on children enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade who were aged 15 years or younger. Parents reported on the after-school arrangements in which their children participated, including care by relatives or nonrelatives in a private home, after-school programs in schools or centers, activities that might provide adult supervision in the after-school hours, and children's self-care. Other information includes reasons for choosing parental care, the child's characteristics (including health and disability status), and parent/guardian and household characteristics. Interviews were conducted with the parents of 11,684 students.

• The Adult Education Survey measured participation in the following types of formal educational activities: English as a Second Language (ESL), basic skills and General Education Development (GED) preparation courses, college or university degree or certificate programs, vocational or technical diploma programs, apprenticeship programs, courses or training for work-related reasons, and personal-interest classes or courses. In addition, information was collected on participation in informal learning activities for personal interest. The survey also gathered information on employer support for educational activities. Detailed information about educational attainment, employment, and household characteristics was also collected from both participants and nonparticipants. Adults aged 16 and older who were not enrolled in twelfth grade or below, who were noninstitutionalized, and who were not serving on active military duty were eligible for this survey. Interviews were completed with 8,904 respondents, 4,732 of whom had participated in formal educational activities in the past year and 4,172 of whom had not.

The Partnership Impact Research Project is a three-year study designed to assess the nature of early education partnerships among Head Start, pre-kindergarten (pre-k), child care, and early care and education programs and their influence on child care quality and access to services. The project analyzes qualitative data in an existing database that was collected by the Quality in Linking Together (QUILT) Early Education Partnerships initiative. The QUILT database was designed to provide training and technical assistance in the development and sustainment of partnerships to professionals across the nation, including early care and education providers and state leaders. It is divided into two sections: state-level and local provider-level information. Both sections contain narratives, factual data, and documents. Additionally, the project collected new quantitative and qualitative data from randomly selected child care and Head Start providers in Ohio to study the influence of partnerships on the quality of and access to services.

The Partnership Impact Research Project explored questions about partnerships and their impact on child care and parents while attempting to determine whether state actions could influence both the development of provider-level partnerships and the processes partnerships engage in to sustain their work. Specifically, the study was designed to address the following objectives:

1. Conduct a qualitative analysis of data in an existing database to assess the nature of partnerships and state actions to support partnerships.
2. Conduct a longitudinal study that uses a quasi-experimental design and involves original data collection at three points in time to learn about the impact of partnerships on child care center quality, child care classroom quality, and accessibility of services for parents.
3. Develop detailed reports and research briefs, tailored to specific audiences such as legislators, administrators, and providers, that translate research findings into practical information that addresses questions frequently asked about child care partnerships.
4. Disseminate research reports and briefs through established networks of policy makers and practitioners, using their organizations' Web sites and publications.

The six datasets associated with this data collection are summarized below:

1. Child Care Center Data -- contains information on a variety of aspects about a child care center from the director's point of view with many focused questions aimed at the preschool population and an overview of the child care center as a whole. This dataset provides information about the population being served, services provided, teacher ratios, teacher training and education, annual budgets, funding sources, and other major aspects of a child care center in order to achieve an understanding of quality.
2. Child Care Center Partnership Data -- contains information about the child care partnership with the Head Start Agency that provides their services. There are five sections: funding sources, origins of the partnership, resources, nature of the partnership, and benefits/challenges. Information about how the partnership began, what the centers' role is, what services are provided, and a variety of general questions that inform others about the nature of the partnership are available in this dataset.
3. Head Start Background Data -- contains background information about a Head Start Agency that partners with child care centers and other information related to budget, funding sources, number of children served, and Head Start program organization.
4. Head Start Partnership Data -- a companion to the Head Start Background data, this dataset contains information about the specific partnership with each child care center the agency is involved with. There are four sections: background information, teacher training/professional development, services, and director information. Additionally, information on how the partnership began, what the agency's role is, what services are provided, and other general questions about the partnership is available.
5. Parent Data -- contains information on parents' views of the child care center that their preschooler attends. This dataset provides information about the population being served including home/school connection, how a parent views the classroom and the care being provided by the center, and the services available to both the child and parent through the center.
6. Teacher Data -- contains information about teachers' views of the child care center where they are employed. This dataset provides information about the population being served, services provided, teacher ratios, teacher training and education, and teacher experience in order to achieve an understanding of quality.