April 2022

Persevering Through the Pandemic: Key Learnings from Parents and Educators

Abt continues to partner with the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education to conduct the longitudinal Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H). Check out this report on the ongoing effects of the pandemic on young children, families, and early educators in Massachusetts.

Mapping New Hampshire’s Early Childhood System

As part of the New Hampshire Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five (NH PDG B-5) evaluation , Abt conducted sophisticated analyses to help the state define a new regional infrastructure of early childhood supports and developed maps to illustrate family access to child care and other services.

We're honored to welcome Adele Robinson to the team. Adele brings 30 years of experience working on early education and care policy, including time spent as a consultant at HHS, where she drafted regulations and outreach materials for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and coordinated guidance with the Department of Education.

Read Adele’s latest Perspectives Blog on the impacts of a wealth tax on early childcare workers’ compensation.

Evaluating the Massachusetts Early Childhood Support Organization Initiative

Abt is evaluating the Massachusetts Early Childhood Support Organization (MA ECSO) initiative—a public-private partnership that includes venture philanthropy organization New Profit and the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. The initiative’s goal is to empower leaders of early education and care programs to build organizational capacity and improve the learning environment.

Partnerships to Inform Early Care and Education Policy and Practice

For more than 50 years, we’ve been a global leader in state-of-the-art early care and education research, evaluation, and technical assistance. Learn how we work closely with government agencies, philanthropic leaders, and non-profits to solve issues ranging from workforce development to program quality to the development of equitable and culturally responsive curricula and services.

Supporting Economic Review of Massachusetts Early Education and Care

Abt supported the development of policy recommendations and a final report for the Massachusetts Special Legislative Early Education and Care Economic Review Commission. The commission is charged with “determining the services necessary to achieve the Commonwealth's goal of expanding access to high quality early education and care programming. 

How High Tech Supports Early Childhood Education Research

Early childhood researcher Kerry Hofer recently sat down with us to discuss how her project teams use technology to support data collection and reporting. Read this Q&A to learn how technology has been useful in Kerry’s research and what recommendations she has for researchers and practitioners working in early childhood who want to integrate technology into data collection and reporting.

Social Media Highlight

Abt’s evaluation of the Massachusetts Preschool Expansion Grant answered key questions about the program’s implementation, impacts, outcomes, and costs. Learn more about the findings here.