Last Updated on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 at 12:17 PM
This evaluation of the KIDS NOW initiative focuses on the components included in the Enhancing Early Care and Education sections of the initiative. The research is conducted through a joint effort of teams from the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. The team is required to report reports findings to the Early Childhood Development Authority and the legislature by July 1 of each year.
The KIDS NOW Evaluation Project provides formative evaluation information to the Division of Early Childhood Development in the implementation and refinement of KIDS NOW. The goal of the research is to determine if the implementation of the initiative results in better quality early childhood environments for young children in Kentucky. In addition to the Executive Summary, each year the team produces a Research to Practice Summary to help translate the research findings into practical suggestions for child care professionals in the field.
The communities represented in the evaluation study have been selected as a representative sample for the Commonwealth, looking at such diverse characteristics as socio-economic status, urban or rural location, geographical region, and high need, low resource areas. Consideration was also given to per capita income, unemployment, number of centers, number of slots, and school age slots in each community. Research teams have focused on assessing familiarity and participation in the KIDS NOW initiative and looking at the level of quality in preschool and infant/toddler child care programs. This study will be used for the longitudinal examination of relations between participation in the initiative and quality of the programs. The evaluation team also conducts a Child Outcomes Study to assess the impact of the KIDS NOW Initiative on children’s school readiness through comprehensive tests of achievement.
For the KIDS NOW Executive Summary and the Enhancing Early Care and Education Research to Practice please click here.