Publications

School–early childhood zones and hubs connect schools, early learning providers, health agencies, and family services—replacing fragmented systems with aligned support, smoother transitions, and shared responsibility.

By David Jacobson, Director of First 10, Education Development Center in Boston, MA.

The Primary School began operating in East Palo Alto, California, in 2016, implementing a model that brought together early childhood, K-8 education, dedicated parent support, and coordinated access to health care. As it prepared to close its two sites after a decade, The Primary School collaborated with the Stanford Center on Early Childhood's (SCEC) Continuous Improvement Rapid Cycle Learning and Evaluation (CIRCLE) team to capture what the school built, what it tried, and what it learned. This is not a conventional program evaluation, but rather a practice account of what the model set out to do, what the evidence shows, and what it required.

This technical report uses the RAPID California Voices Survey to examine the lives of families with young children. It connects material hardship, emotional well-being, and early learning supports to broader questions about how California can support children before they enter school.

The collaboration between Stanford Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) and the Nebraska Early Childhood Collaborative (NECC) represents an exciting achievement in professional development for the early childhood workforce in Nebraska.

From March to July 2025, First 5 Contra Costa partnered with the Continuous Improvement Rapid Cycle Learning and Evaluation (CIRCLE) team of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood (SCEC) to co-develop and implement a strategic planning data collection project. Based on our findings, we outline opportunities for First 5 Contra Costa, and other local organizations, to explore in order to reach and serve more families with children under 6 in the county.

Despite decades of investment in early childhood programs and an evidence base demonstrating their positive impacts, the field continues to face significant challenges in the selection and implementation of evaluation methodology. 

The Continuous Improvement Rapid Cycle Learning and Evaluation (CIRCLE) framework embraces a continuum of evaluation approaches, prioritizes understanding of impact variation, and emphasizes greater precision in theories of change.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) offers FIND-PD as a training opportunity for early childhood professionals in the state. Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) is an evidence-based video coaching model based at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood that strengthens responsive caregiving and promotes healthy child development. This end-of-year report summarizes implementation efforts, findings, and outcomes from the collaboration with CDEC from May 2024 through June 2025.

PBS SoCal originally designed Family Math to provide families in the Greater Los Angeles Area and Southern California with bilingual, free, play-based tools to engage in math learning in everyday contexts. After expanding the initiative nationwide, PBS SoCal partnered with the Stanford Center on Early Childhood (SCEC) to evaluate the implementation and impact of Family Math programming in Alabama and Arizona. 

This case study focuses on First 5 Alameda County and its progress in building a network of interconnected policies, programs, services and supports for young children and their families. The case study was created as a learning tool for practitioners, leaders and students with the aim of contributing to broader systemic change in early childhood policy and practice.

Healing a community involves taking into account the social and historical forces that affect relationships between caregivers and children. Bringing community members together to draft statements of principles may seem like a purely intellectual exercise, but the process of finalizing these documents can say a lot about the community’s values and visions. 

Using an integrated data system, community-based organizations in Guilford County, North Carolina are able to serve families better by linking records and providing insight into past needs and service history.

A constellation of conditions currently exists that is impacting the ecosystems of young children in unprecedented ways and leading to new challenges for children and the adults in their lives. We refer to these conditions as the New Ecology of Early Childhood. With a sense of urgency, we outline five recommendations for both public and private action.

To gain a better understanding of the context for the relationships shaping the young minds of Memphis, First 8 Memphis went to the experts – the adults in their lives.

Swartz’s visit to Detroit’s Cody Rouge neighborhood, photographed by Zak Bratto, reveals a cohesive network of nonprofits partnering with families to come up with and realize plans to build agency and power.

By Philip Fisher and Joan Lombardi 

Communities everywhere are turning their focus to ways in which they can support young children and the adults in their lives. Early Childhood X (ECX) was created to celebrate and amplify these transformative place-based efforts. 

A user guide for collecting data on parental inputs and child development using wearable devices.

by N. Tomaselli, L. Dzekedzeke, G. Lichand, and J. Phuka

This takeaway guide highlights the challenges raised by panelists during the September 2023 webinars, and offers ways to engage with the effects of extreme weather and climate change at the policy, community, and family levels.