Ongoing since 2023
The goal of this project is to help early education and care providers in Massachusetts understand and learn how to use the CLASS tool to improve both teacher quality and prekindergarten children’s development.
Ongoing since 2011
The goal of this project is to produce a reliable and valid measure of teachers’ educational beliefs and knowledge of child development and ECE pedagogy that can be used to validate the effectiveness of professional development programs and interventions, as well as, to provide valuable feedback in applied settings regarding ECE teachers’ professional development needs and classroom appropriateness.
Ongoing since 2017
The Work, Families & Children research group (WFC) at the Wellesley Centers for Women serves as a research partner to James Bell Associates in an evaluation of the Children’s Investment Fund’s Early Education and Out-of-School Time (EEOST) Capital Grant Program in Massachusetts.
Ongoing since 2014
This project is designed to support children's social-emotional and cognitive development.
2023 - 2024
The researchers are studying new and former family child care providers in order to understand how states can strengthen and improve recruitment and retention of them.
Ongoing since 1999
This group of inter-related research projects seeks to understand the state of early care and education in Massachusetts and make recommendations for quality outcomes.
2020 - 2022
This study, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will examine how nonstandard and/or unpredictable work schedules make it difficult for low-income parents to access quality child care.
Ongoing since 1986
Assessing Child Care Issues in Working Families This long-term program brings together research on employment, work and family issues, and child care as a support for working families.
2006 - 2014
Assessing Preschool and Kindergarten Programs The Work, Families & Children team has conducted a series of studies for the Boston Public Schools (BPS), including the BPS K1 and K2 Programs Needs Assessment, and a 2007-08 follow-up study.
2007 - 2013
This project provided a comprehensive picture of the quality of Boston's Early Care and Education programs for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, in both centers and family child care homes.
1998 - 2008
One of the major developmental tasks of preschoolers is to develop empathy; this project researches and designs curriculum in order better understand and cultivate empathy at a young and critical age.
2009 - 2011
An evaluation of physical spaces in Massachusetts child care settings.
2001 - 2005
This study followed a random sample of hundreds of children and 100 child care centers in order to examine links between family income, the quality and cost of child-care, and infant language and social development.
2001 - 2002
This study sought to examine full-day, year round child care for preschool-age children in Maine to better illuminate links between the quality and the costs of early child care in Maine.
2004 - 2005
The Capacity Study describes the current early education and care (EEC) workforce in Massachusetts and evaluates the capacity of the State’s higher education system to meet the increased demand for a qualified workforce in early education and care.
2000 - 2004
The goal of the Massachusetts Cost and Quality Study was to examine full-day, year-round, community-based center care for preschool-age children (2.9 years to 5 years) and for infants and toddlers, pre-k classrooms in the public schools and family child care programs.
2004 - 2009
Researchers focused on aspects of school readiness, including social and language development, along with other data such as hours in care, so as to better understand the ways in which a child's growth is influenced by situational factors.
2011 - 2012
This is a study of the relation between fathers’ high levels of involvement in childrearing and various family outcomes: quality of the marriage, the mother's report of social support, the quality of the mother-child relationship and of the father-child relationship, and the quality of family interactions when the children are in elementary school.
1991 - 2010
This study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, seeks to determine the relationship between children's early experiences and their developmental outcomes.
2013 - 2016
This pilot project aimed to improve quality in early childhood education and care.
2011 - 2012
The purpose of this project is to inform the Massachusetts board of Early Education and Care (EEC) of the resources that will best serve families and communities in supporting the holistic development of children, youth, and families.
2007 - 2012
The primary purpose of the study was to provide a picture of child care usage among Massachusetts low-income families.