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Reports

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center conducts original research and rigorous evaluations of state policies and programs. Through mixed methods, we examine not only whether a policy is effective, but also for whom and under what conditions. We calculate the return on investments. Our findings help states strengthen supports for children and families.

Featured

Families across the United States are struggling to find and afford child care. Policymakers, advocates, and researchers have documented the scope of that struggle at the national level for years. What has been far harder to answer is a simpler question: what is happening in any given community?

A new five-part research series from our Center provides that kind of local understanding for greater Nashville, Tennessee.

Additional Reports

Little girl smiling

The North Texas Child Care Workforce Study

The North Texas Child Care Workforce Study provides a comprehensive picture of North Texas’s early care and education (ECE) workforce, including workforce size, child care supply, educator characteristics, and experiences and challenges child care directors

Home Visiting and Child Welfare Involvement: A Matched Comparison Group Study

See the latest in our ongoing work to build the evidence base around PN3 policies.

Refundable Tax Credits: Uptake Patterns in Texas Reveal Opportunities for States to Support Families

States and community organizations can increase awareness of credits. Increasingly, the state and federal government use tax credits, such as the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit, to support families with low
Young father examines prices of diapers.

Receiving Concrete Support Linked to Home Visiting Program Engagement

Evaluating Texas’s in-kind and monetary assistance during COVID-19 To promote nurturing and responsive parent-child relationships and healthy home environments, states can offer home visiting programs to expectant and new parents with young children. During the

Transforming the Child Care Landscape: A Case Study of New Mexico

Throughout the nation, states are struggling to keep their child care industries afloat. Decades of underinvestment and a global pandemic threatened a near-total collapse of the system, held off only by temporary pandemic-era funding that

Reports & Research Briefs

Because the earliest years of life shape brain development and lifelong wellbeing, the policies and systems that support families with young children matter enormously. Our Research and Evaluation and Policy teams produce reports and briefs across key areas including child care, paid leave, economic supports, governance, and equity to translate the science of early childhood into actionable solutions. Explore our catalog below to find research on the topics that matter most to you.

Brief 5: Estimating the True Cost of High-Quality Home-Based Care – Insights from True-Cost Modeling

Home-based child care plays a small but vital role in greater Davidson County, Tennessee, offering families flexibility, affordability, and culturally aligned care, particularly for infants and toddlers. This brief uses a cost estimation model to examine the true cost of providing high-quality home-based child care in the region, where providers often serve simultaneously as educator, owner, and director.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Want to see our full catalog of resources?