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2025 Policy Impact Calculator

The interactive Policy Impact Calculator shows how state policy choices affect resources for families with young children. Compare states, track trends, and simulate outcomes.
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Clearinghouse

Prenatal-to-3 Policy Clearinghouse

How do you know if a state policy truly improves outcomes for infants, toddlers, and their families? We reviewed thousands of research studies for you.
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Research & Evaluation

We conduct original research—including program evaluation, policy analyses, benefit-cost analyses, and mixed methods studies—to build the evidence.
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State Services

To support lawmakers and advocates, we offer research and evaluation, data and analyses, presentations, testimony, agenda development, and more.

We aim to accelerate states’ implementation of evidence-based policies that help all children thrive from the start.

Who We Are

We are a nonpartisan research center at Vanderbilt University. We focus on the rigorous evidence connecting brain science with state policies and programs.

What We Do

We inform lawmakers, agencies, advocates, and academics about policies to help families thrive–while growing states’ health, safety, and prosperity.

Why prenatal to 3?

The first three years of life have a powerful impact on the future wellbeing of every person. Families can benefit from a strong early childhood system of care.

The Latest

Kids sitting in a classroom

New Vanderbilt Study Finds Nashville Child Care System Faces Interconnected Challenges in Supply, Workforce, and Affordability

As families across the country navigate the pressures of finding and affording child care, new research from Vanderbilt University’s Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center examines what that landscape looks like in greater Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, Tennessee
Mom holding baby

Executive Summary: Davidson County, Tennessee Child Care Landscape Study

The Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study examines local child care supply, population metrics that inform demand, the local ECE workforce, operating conditions of local child care programs, and the estimated cost of providing high-quality child care in greater Nashville, Tennessee.
Baby smiling on mat for tummy time

Brief 1: Early Education for the Next Generation – Understanding Child Care Supply

Child care access shapes whether families with young children can work and whether children receive the nurturing, structured environments that support healthy development. This brief examines center-based child care supply across greater Davidson County, Tennessee, drawing on survey data from 116 child care programs to build a more complete picture of what families can realistically access.
Baby resting on a caregiver's shoulder

Brief 2: The People Behind Early Care and Education – Understanding the Early Childhood Workforce

The early childhood education workforce is central to the quality and functioning of center-based child care programs, yet directors across the country face persistent challenges recruiting and retaining educators. This brief draws on survey data from 116 child care programs to describe the size and composition of the early childhood education workforce across greater Davidson County, Tennessee.
Baby playing with caregiver

Brief 3: Limited Providers, Limited Slots – An Analysis of Home-Based Child Care

Home-based child care represents a small but important part of the licensed child care landscape in greater Davidson County, Tennessee, serving families with varied preferences and needs. This brief draws on survey data from 14 licensed home-based programs to describe the supply and experiences of home-based child care providers across the region.
Little boy playing with toy train.

Brief 4: What High-Quality Center-Based Child Care Really Costs, and Why No One is Paying It – Insights from True-Cost Modeling

The market price of child care reflects what families can afford to pay, not what it actually costs programs to provide high-quality care with a well-compensated workforce. This brief uses a cost estimation model to examine the true cost of providing center-based child care for children under age 5 across greater Davidson County, Tennessee.