OPRE awards CCDF evaluation grant to Connecticut team

The Partnership for Early Education Research (PEER) is pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation (OPRE) has awarded a phase 2 implementation grant to Connecticut through the Coordinated Evaluations of Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Policies and Initiatives project.[i] The Connecticut team is led by Dr. Heidi Rosenberg of Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), who is a member of the PEER management team. Dr. Michael Strambler of Yale School of Medicine, who is PEER Director, co-leads the evaluation, and Julie Giaccone of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC), serves as the state agency lead. The team also includes Yale School of Medicine’s Joanna Meyer (PEER Co-Director) and Maegan Genovese, EDC’s Anne Huntington, and OEC’s Julie Bisi. This 4-year grant will allow the team to implement the evaluation plan that the team developed with the support of a 2021-2023 phase 1 planning grant.[ii]

Child care is a large and necessary expense for many working families in the US. In addition to allowing parents to participate in the workforce, education, or job training, high-quality child care supports children’s development. The federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), authorized by the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act, provides funding to help offset the cost of child care for families of low income as well as to increase the supply and quality of care.[iii]

States have some latitude in setting specific policies for their CCDF programs. For example, states take a variety of approaches to promoting families’ access to quality care, such as setting higher subsidy payment rates (also known as provider reimbursement rates) for child care that they define as high quality. States also have different policies regarding how much families are obligated to pay as a co-payment fee, though federal guidance suggests the co-payment should not exceed 7 percent of a family’s income. And, while federal regulations say that children receiving CCDF subsidies must live in families with incomes below 85% of the state median income, most states set lower income eligibility limits due to budgetary constraints.[iv] The government funded the Coordinated Evaluations of CCDF Policies and Initiatives project to learn how different states’ CCDF policies impact the goals of CCDF.

In Connecticut, the CCDF program is administered by the OEC and called Care 4 Kids. Over recent years, OEC has made several significant changes to Care 4 Kids subsidy payment policies to increase the affordability of child care, the supply of high-quality care, and families’ access to subsidies. For example, OEC increased its base payment rates for all providers. OEC also increased its quality bonus rate for nationally accredited providers to incentivize accredited providers to accept subsidies and to encourage non-accredited providers to achieve national accreditation. The OEC implemented these policies as part of its efforts to make child care more affordable and accessible for all Connecticut families receiving Care 4 Kids subsidies.

In Connecticut’s CCDF evaluation, PEER will examine Care 4 Kids subsidy payment policies, including payment rates and family co-payment structures. Specifically, the study will include:

• an implementation evaluation exploring:
  • how subsidy payment policies are administered at the state level and
  • how providers and families experience them, and
• an impact evaluation examining whether OEC’s subsidy payment policies have:
  • increased the number of providers serving families utilizing Care 4 Kids subsidies and
  • increased families’ equitable access to affordable, high-quality child care.

Findings from this evaluation study will help inform OEC about the impact of its subsidy payment policies on provider and family participation as well as illuminate providers’ and families’ perceptions of, and experiences with, such policies—knowledge that can inform future policy decisions. In addition, the team will join the other CCDF evaluation grantees in the Planning Research on Subsidy Payment Rates (PROSPR) community of practice, convened by OPRE to facilitate learning and collaboration across states. PEER is thrilled about these opportunities to build actionable knowledge and share it with policymakers.