Stanford Center on Early Childhood
Our vision is to see every child thrive from the start—and that begins with the families, educators, and communities that surround them. The Stanford Center on Early Childhood is uniquely positioned to support, accelerate, and implement strategies that address structural disparities and foster alliances across communities, academic institutions, funders, advocates, and policymakers.
Who we are
The Stanford Center on Early Childhood is an initiative of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, which seeks to accelerate solutions to the most pressing challenges facing learners.
Housed at the Graduate School of Education, the Center draws on the GSE’s cutting-edge expertise in learning, as well as Stanford’s globally-recognized strength in innovation and collaboration across disciplines.
Fellowships and Training
We provide interdisciplinary and equity-centered training to the next generation of researchers and practitioners working with families with young children, emphasizing the role of communities, healthcare, and learning environments in early years development.
Introducing ECX: Early Childhood XOur newest initiative, Early Childhood X (ECX) uses storytelling to feature voices that are making change in their communities for young children and the adults in their lives. Read more about the framework for ECX here: Introducing ECX 
|
Fellowship opportunity
The IES-funded Equity in Early Education (E3) postdoctoral fellowship program will train the next generation of scholars to conduct research that will contribute to more equitable, impactful, and sustainable early childhood care and education systems. Applications for this two-year fellowship open in October and are due Dec 1.
Site news
News
-
Immigration enforcement is driving away early childhood educators
Hechinger Report: More than half of child care providers surveyed this year by the RAPID Survey Project at Stanford University reported experiencing difficulty affording food, the highest rate since the survey started collecting data on provider hunger in 2021. -
Hunger is squeezing California students — and it could get worse
EdSource: “It’s pretty stark data,” said Philip Fisher, director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood. “Our research shows consistently that economic hardship translates subsequently into parent stress and distress, which then gets passed along to child distress..." -
More Than Half of Child Care Providers Have Gone Hungry, New Report Finds
EdSurge: "I think most people think we’re in a very prosperous country and with hunger, there’s something of a mindset around it of abject poverty,” says Philip Fisher, director of the Stanford Center for Early Childhood."
Events
Events
Connections and collaboration are in our DNA. The center holds regular convenings that bring together experts, practitioners, and policy makers on critical topics in early childhood. In addition, we host project-specific webinars presented by members of our faculty and external collaborators.
Launch Event recording
The SCEC celebrated its official launch November 3, 2022, with an inspiring gathering of educators, researchers, policy makers, and community members. Panelists addressed critical topics of equity and impact in early childhood.