Highlights from the National Research Conference on Early Childhood (NRCEC) 2024
| The ICS team presents findings on equity in early childhood assessment at the NRCEC 2024 Conference: Dr. Aimée Drouin Duncan, Dr. Caroline Martin, and Dr. Allison Kimble-Cusano. |
ICS staff attended the 2024 National Research Conference on Early Childhood (NRCEC) from June 24-26 in Arlington, VA. NRCEC is a free research conference that gathers remarkable researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and philanthropy stakeholders dedicated to advancing early childhood development and well-being. This year’s conference brought together thought leaders and experts to discuss the latest research findings, innovative practices, and policy implications for inequities in early care and education for children and the workforce. Read on to learn about the key highlights from NRCEC 2024.
Engaging Keynote Speeches
Renowned experts delivered keynote speeches that inspired and informed attendees. Highlights included addresses by Chrishana Lloyd of Child Trends, Michelle Maier of MDRC, Yoonjeon Kim of the Center for Study of Child Care Employment, Sara Mead of the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, and Ola Friday, EEIC, who discussed historical inequities in early care and education, highlighting the challenges of the workforce, example challenges and solutions from the field. This included the sharing of Washington, DC’s Pay Equity Fund’s process and success in engaging voters and policymakers in fair pay for Washington, DC early childhood educators to increase workforce well-being and program quality. Presenters highlighted the power of the workforce to mobilize for change and advocacy.
At this critical time in the field’s history, ICS has the opportunity to improve evaluation practices by engaging the workforce in measure selection and measurement conversations. By engaging with the workforce, we are learning how best to tell their stories and the stories of the field, through evaluation and practice. Policymakers can then make decisions from evaluation and practice level data, that is grounded in the experiences of those doing the practice-level work.
Groundbreaking Research Presentations
The conference featured a diverse range of research presentations covering topics such as early childhood education, health and well-being, family engagement, and child development. Notable studies included those presented in the Putting Community Needs at the Center: How Head Start Programs Identify and Support Families. Harshini Shah from Mathematica reported data from Head Start/Early Head Start programs working to reach families experiencing adversity, and Kate Stepleton from MEF Associates presented data from a study on the need for converting Head Start slots to Early Head Start slots to provide more care for families with infants and toddlers. The discussants, including Catherine Ayoub from the Brazelton Center at Harvard Medical School, highlighted the opportunities that practitioners have to reach children and families, and shared how far the field has come and optimism for where we are headed in meeting infants, toddlers and families. Presenters highlighted the current needs of families with infants and toddlers, how far the field has come to meet those needs, and the strength of families communicating those needs.
ICS has the opportunity to center families in evaluation and practice. By engaging in research partnerships with programs, organizations, and systems leaders, practitioners and researchers may partner to develop processes that center families’ lived experiences and document their needs. ICS strives to operationalize these processes, collect quality data, and share with policy makers to develop family-centered systems.
Interactive Poster Symposiums
Attendees participated in interactive poster symposium that fostered collaboration and knowledge exchange. Topics ranged from innovative policy solutions and advocacy to early childhood supervision practices and implementation. Key presentations included Translating Lessons Learned From Early Childhood Research to Neuroscience chaired by Brenda Jones-Harden of Columbia University. This symposium brought forward the demands placed on the workforce, and the opportunity and responsibility to ensure the well-being of the workforce into the future.
ICS’ mission commits our organization to human-centered practices in all of our work. We are committed to promoting best practices that support workforce well-being. We are interested in measures of employee wellness in the early childhood workforce to continue to support and promote the needs of developing a healthy and fit workforce. Through supervision practices and implementation, we can promote a workforce that is fit to lead children and families into their own healthy futures.
ICS Poster Presentation: Advancing Early Childhood Outcomes
One of the key highlights of the conference for ICS was our participation in the Monday night poster session. We got to hear from attendees about their measurement and evaluation needs, and their challenges with early childhood assessments. We were able to share our IMPACT Measures Tool®, and how our findings validated their experiences and challenges, and look toward possible solutions for research, evaluation, and practitioners. One program director returned to our poster to tell us she used our tool to explain why the Head Start Center had chosen to use the IMPACT Measures Tool to show her staff why she had chosen the formative assessment they were using in their program. Opportunities like these are critical to advancing our work, and connecting us with the research, policy, and practice community we aim to serve.
Exhibition Hall and Networking Opportunities
The exhibition hall showcased the many different Health and Human Services Departments and affiliates. The exhibitors were open for discussing government programs and sharing the latest research, tools, technologies, and resources in early childhood education. Networking sessions were held formally and informally, providing attendees with much-needed opportunities to connect and collaborate with peers from across the country in this increasingly remote world. There were many discussions of evaluation and practice throughout the Exhibition Hall. ICS met with many vendors to discuss technical assistance evaluation needs. We see where there is space for us all to work together to shift historic measurement and evaluation practices toward equity and human centered designs and approaches. This begins and continues with information sharing, and the communications promoted at NRCEC.
Looking Ahead: What’s next for IMPACT and ICS
Some of the most empowering words shared at the conference were delivered by Director Ruth Friedman of the Office of Child Care. During a state of the field presentation, she expressed gratitude for researchers’ commitment to the field and the need for high quality data to inform decision makers on the current trends and numbers. In doing so, she highlighted the importance of timely research and data, and the need for good data NOW.
Director Friedman’s call to action at NRCEC 2024 highlights ICS’ ongoing commitment to advancing accessible measurement and evaluation practice and data for early childhood research, policy and practice. Moving forward, ICS aims to continue engaging with research, practitioner and policymaker audiences to support the early childhood field’s most pressing measurement and evaluation needs. ICS aims to continue to answer questions around early childhood interventions, education, home visiting, and developmental health research to support children and families and the workforce that serves them.
Connect with ICS
Our mission at ICS is to empower all young children to succeed across the nation, regardless of their background. To advance this goal, we support organizations that support young children and families. We offer a number of services including measurement and evaluation support, policy research and advocacy, systems change, professional learning, and strategic finance planning. To learn more about ICS’s services, visit our website.