Resources

Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund (PEF): Do Economic Returns Change Over Time?

Washington, DC’s PEF is the nation’s first dedicated public funding stream to address pay disparities between CCEE educators and public school teachers.

Blueprint for the Federal Role in Advancing Early Learning Research & Development

Informed by the insights of 25 leaders across early learning, this blueprint provides targeted federal policy recommendations to advance early learning research and innovation and ensure that children, families, and educators are set up to thrive.

Program Integrity in the Child Care and Development Fund: Distinguishing Between and Addressing Fraud and Improper Payments

The White House and Congress have recently focused considerable attention on alleged fraud in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), which funds child care subsidies for more than one million low-income working families. This blog post breaks down the distinction between fraud (intentional deception) and improper payments (usually unintentional errors). Understanding the difference between the two concepts as well as current policies is key to improving efforts to address both.

Governors’ Top Education Priorities in 2026 State of the State Addresses

What Are Governors Prioritizing Right Now?

From childcare to career pathways, governors across the country have touted substantial commitments to students, families, educators and communities throughout their states and territories this year.

The Engagement Advantage: Findings from a Mixed-Methods Study of Family-School Partnerships

In partnership with TNTP, Learning Heroes launched The Engagement Advantage to examine how family-school partnerships relate to student attendance and academic outcomes. The first stage of this mixed-methods study found that schools with stronger pre-pandemic family engagement experienced significantly lower chronic absenteeism and higher academic performance post-pandemic — with family engagement showing a stronger relationship to absenteeism than poverty.

Green Schoolyards Action Agenda: A National Roadmap for Nature-Rich School Grounds

Hundreds of individuals and organizations across the green schoolyards movement have set out to create a national roadmap toward a bold and shared vision that by 2050, all U.S. school grounds will be green schoolyards.