The Montgomery County Children's Alliance partnered with School Readiness Consulting (SRC) to lead an intentional and community-driven planning process to design the plan. That process involved creating The Foundational Action Plan to provide a set of clear actions for the Montgomery County Children's Alliance to focus on and organize around. It is meant to build on the ongoing work and momentum that exists in order to address the real and big challenges young children and families face every day. It offers a road map to highlight important next steps for the Alliance to contribute to creating a stronger and more equitable early childhood system.

The North Carolina DCDEE Stakeholder Engagement Study was conducted to learn from and strengthen connections with the early childhood community. This study focused on understanding how well the Division has done in the past to provide opportunities for community members to share their experiences and feedback, as well as gathering input on ways the Division can improve its engagement efforts in the future.

This report presents the findings and key considerations from an evaluation effort conducted by School Readiness Consulting (SRC) to support the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE). The study aimed to answer three research questions related to qualitative research, storytelling, and stakeholder input. The report presents findings that highlight the perceptions, experiences, and recommendations of various stakeholders involved in early childhood education and care in North Carolina, including DCDEE staff; early childhood directors, administrators, and teachers; Family Child Care Home Providers; and families. This effort is a significant step in the Division’s ongoing effort to evaluate the way it collects and uses qualitative data to inform policies, improve program implementation, and enhance the services it provides to children and families.

This validation study evaluates the Hope Starts Here (HSH) imperative metrics for success and examines the early implementation of the HSH initiative (2020 and beyond) to inform future evaluation efforts. The research questions that guided the validation study were designed to help explore the face validity and the content validity of HSH metrics and were determined based on HSH's priorities.

This implementation study focuses on the experiences (including successes and challenges) of different stakeholders in the early stages of implementation of the Hope Starts Here initiative.

The city of Seattle has a history of investing in its youth and has funded education-based initiatives since 1990. In response to the growing understanding of the benefits of preschool for children and communities, the Department of Education and Early Learning (DEEL) launched a demonstration phase of the Seattle Preschool Program (SPP). This initiative aimed to meet three goals: (1) increase access to full-time preschool for three- and four-year-old children across the city; (2) ensure that the preschool program is one of high quality by using a research-based curriculum and offering culturally responsive, engaging, and nurturing adult-child interactions; and (3) eliminate the racially disproportionate kindergarten readiness gap. DEEL contracted with SRC on two occasions to conduct process evaluations of the SPP. Efforts informed a series of case studies and reports (2019 and 2021) that were developed to share findings and recommendations focused on improving SPP and advancing early learning opportunities for all children in Seattle.

In order to better understand the landscape of the ECE workforce, the state’s Child Development Division (CDD) and the Vermont Head Start Collaboration Office (VHSCO) contracted School Readiness Consulting (SRC) to conduct the Vermont Early Childhood Wage and Fringe Benefit Study. The intent of the study was to define key positions in Vermont’s early childhood workforce and examine wages and fringe benefits of the workforce across program types and funding streams, including center-based (Head Start, universal pre-K, and private), home-based (universal pre-K), after-school, and Children’s Integrated Services (CIS) programs. This work culminated in a report describing the current state of ECE workforce compensation and outlining recommendations for maintaining workforce data and considerations for developing meaningful compensation packages across the early childhood workforce.

This evaluation report was conducted to examine the implementation and outcomes of Virginia's Mixed Delivery Preschool Pilot Program (Cohort 1: grantees in 2016–17 and Cohort 2: grantees in 2017–18).

In partnership with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, SRC facilitated the work of the legislatively appointed Early Childhood Financing and Compensation workgroup. This group of diverse stakeholders was charged with examining issues related to ECE workforce compensation and developing a series of solutions, policy recommendations, and key considerations based on both the national and state contexts and best practice. SRC provided guidance and facilitated an iterative process of analysis and planning, culminating in a final report delivered to the Virginia School Readiness Committee.