States and the Child Care and Development Fund

The National Association of State Child Care Administrators (NASCCA), an affiliate of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), and Child Trends, with the Bank Street College of Education, released a study in April evaluating states' use of funding from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) to invest in child care quality.

The flexibility inherent in the CCDF block grant structure allows the implementation of quality initiatives that fit the diverse geographic, demographic, and cultural landscapes of each state.

The study finds most states focusing "on a relatively small set of objectives that research suggests can contribute to child care quality:"

• promoting healthy and safe environments;
• professional development, including providing training and formal education for individual providers and programs;
• initiatives that aim to increase emotionally supportive and responsive caregiving and those that support early learning.

However, the study's authors felt states needed to improve their evaluation and data collection methods, shifting from documenting the targeted population to more evaluating the effects.

Investing in Quality: A Survey of State Child Care and Development Fund Initiatives (April 2006, pdf, 54 pages/4mB)

See also,
PL 104-193 - Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (authorizing the CCDF)