Early Childhood and Child Development

Preschool kids eating applesResearch shows that children are more successful in school and beyond if they are given a strong foundation in the earliest years of their lives. We work with early childhood service providers and policymakers nationwide to find solutions to practical challenges in early childhood education and care. We address major questions in the early childhood field, such as:

  • How can the quality of early educator practices and early education and care programs be improved?
  • How do early learning experiences and school readiness approaches affect young children’s language, literacy, early mathematics, and social-emotional skills?
  • What types of professional development best support teachers’ and caregivers’ needs?
  • Do kindergarten entry assessments measure children’s school readiness in intended domains?
Our Work

Early Childhood brochureOur work includes technical assistance, measurement and data collection, and research and evaluation where we work closely with clients, states, and school districts to define key policy areas, build content understanding, translate research to practice, and identify opportunities for technical support and growth. We also work with clients across the entire range of study planning, implementation, and interpreting data.  

AIR offers a range of services:

Research and Evaluation

  • Experimental and quasi-experimental impact studies
  • Formative and implementation evaluation
  • Policy analysis
  • Literature reviews and meta-analysis
  • Cost analyses and cost estimates

Technical Assistance

  • Translation of research to practice
  • Strategic planning
  • Training facilitation
  • Program standards articulation and alignment
  • Support child-serving agencies

Measurement and Data Collection

  • Integration of existing data sources
  • Development of child assessments
  • Validation of quality rating systems and child assessments
  • Large-scale data collection, including classroom observations and child assessments

Latest Work

1 Jul 2018
Report

English Language Program Participation Among Students in the Kindergarten Class of 2010-11: Spring 2011 to Spring 2012

Providing English language instruction has important implications for millions of children nationwide. This Statistics in Brief report uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, focused on the Kindergarten Class of 2010-11, to examine students who participated in English language programs.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development, English Language Learners, Reading and Literacy
20 Jun 2018
Brief

Quality and Equitable Access Grounded in Local Knowledge: Bringing Pre-primary Education to Scale

The authors of this UNICEF Think Piece explain why focusing on quality and equitable access to pre-primary education is imperative in Eastern and Southern Africa and why it unfortunately does not happen, and explore the implication of the increased focus on access on the provision of quality pre-primary education.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development, International, International Early Childhood and Child Development
19 Jun 2018
Q & A

In Conversation: Insights on Early Childhood Care Costs and Choices

The annual Condition of Education 2018 provides new insight into the costs and availability of child care options. Spotlight author Jijun Zhang, AIR senior psychometrician and statistician, recently discussed the findings with Susan Muenchow, AIR principal researcher in early learning and care.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development
25 May 2018
Infographic

Condition of Education 2018: Early Childhood Care Costs

Between 2001 and 2016, the cost of child care rose by nearly 50 percent or more for children under 6 years old who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten, according to The Condition of Education 2018. This infographic depicts the rising cost of center-based care, the most expensive childcare arrangement.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development
22 May 2018
Brief

The Summer After Kindergarten: Children’s Experiences by Socioeconomic Characteristics

This Statistics in Brief analyzes student's participation in summer activities compared by two socioeconomic characteristics - household poverty status and parents' highest level of education. Data for socioeconomic characteristics was gathered from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 while data related to summer activity participation was collected from interviews with parents or guardians in the fall of 2011.
Topic: 
Education, Equity in Education, Longitudinal Education Studies, Early Childhood and Child Development
18 Apr 2018
Q & A

Transitional Kindergarten Q&A with Karen Manship

Created in 2010 by the Kindergarten Readiness Act, transitional kindergarten (TK) offers younger children in California additional time to prepare for school. AIR undertook a five-year evaluation study of the TK program in 2012. In light of conversations across the country about increasing access to high-quality early childhood education, AIR’s Karen Manship answered a few questions about the TK study and its findings.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development
1 Mar 2018
Report

Findings From the Fourth-Grade Round of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (ECLS-K:2011)

The Early Childhood Longitudinal study from the National Center for Education Statistics follows students who were kindergartners in 2011. This report provides information on select child and family characteristics including poverty status, parental education, family type, and primary home language as well as children's knowledge in reading, math, and science.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development
30 Dec 2017
Report

Scientific Evidence for the Validity of the New Mexico Kindergarten Observation Tool

The New Mexico Public Education Department developed the Kindergarten Observation Tool (KOT) as a multidimensional observational measure of students’ knowledge and skills at kindergarten entry. This study examined the construct validity of the KOT to determine whether data from a field test supported using the KOT to measure six school readiness domains and, if not, what domain structure the data best supported.
Topic: 
Education, Early Childhood and Child Development
29 Dec 2017
Spotlight

Year in Review: Highlights from 2017

From India and Laos to school districts in California, our research, resources, and multimedia provide insight into a wide array of topics across the U.S. and around the world. Explore highlights from our 2017 work.
Topic: 
Workforce, Higher Education and Career Readiness, Education, Health, Families, Communities, and Social Systems, International, Early Childhood and Child Development
Project

Children and Society: A Global Scan of Child Well-Being

All children deserve to live healthy lives and experience positive well-being. The aim for this work is to understand the context that includes the norms, values, and conditions that underpin child well-being in various countries, with the intention of transferring and applying that knowledge to the United States.
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