Secondary Analyses of Child Care and Early Education Data

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) plans to solicit applications for Secondary Analyses of Child Care and Early Education data grants. These grants aim to support researchers conducting secondary analyses of data to address key questions of relevance to the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). CCDF is the primary federal funding source for child care subsidies and aims to help eligible low-income working families access child care and to improve the quality of child care for all children. CCDF also aims to improve the quality of care and promote children’s healthy development and learning by supporting child care licensing, quality improvement systems to help programs meet higher standards, and training and education for child care workers. Analyzing existing data sets may provide researchers an efficient and cost-effective method for answering critical research questions of relevance to CCDF. Findings from these grants are intended to inform policy, program administration, and future research. Topics of particular interest to ACF may include, but are not limited to the following: recruiting and retaining a qualified early care and education workforce; reducing barriers to access and/or improvements in access to ECE, particularly for those most in need of services; consumer education, COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery, building the supply of high-quality care and education; improving teacher and caregiver competencies through professional development; supporting workforce well-being; and approaches to engage, support, and meet the needs of families. Data sets of particular interest to ACF may include, but are not limited to, the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education and state or territory-level workforce registry, subsidy, Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), licensing, monitoring, child care resource and referral, or Preschool Development Grants Birth-5 data.