Description

The Child Care Policy Research Partnerships: Evaluating Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies’ Consumer Education Strategies funding opportunity will support research partnerships between state, territory, and tribal CCDF Lead Agencies and institutions with demonstrated research capacity to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of lead agencies’ consumer education strategies that are designed to help parents make informed choices about their children’s early care and education. To ensure that the funded work is timely and relevant, the CCDF Lead Agency and their research partners must collaborate actively throughout all phases of the project.Award recipients will be expected to: (1) Conduct an innovative impact evaluation and an implementation study. The evaluation must use an experimental approach (for example, a randomized control trial) or an approach that lends itself to strong causal inference, such as a high-quality quasi-experimental design. (2) Engage relevant people and groups in the research process including individuals with lived experience (e.g., child care resource & referral agencies, parents with young children), as appropriate. This type of engagement can improve the rigor and relevance of ACF research and evaluation, facilitate the uptake of findings, and increase our capacity to promote equity. For more information on OPRE’s expectations for active engagement see the publication Making Evaluations Rigorous and Relevant, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/report/making-evaluations-rigorous-and-relevant-role-active-engagement-development-learning. We also offer guidance on engaging with tribal communities in our Roadmap for Collaborative and Effective Evaluation in Tribal Communities. (3) Collaborate with federal staff and participate in a consortium that will meet and communicate regularly to identify opportunities to share lessons learned, coordinate, such as using common data elements and research methods, and to develop collective expertise and resources for the field. (4) Foster information exchange among practice, policy, and research communities, including attending the Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium (CCEEPRC) meeting each time it is scheduled during the project period. (5) Disseminate knowledge and insights gained from the evaluations to a broad range of audiences at the local, state, and national levels.Additional Information: (1) The awards will be 5-year cooperative agreements with five 12-month budget periods. (2) The cooperative agreements allow for a 1-year planning period, if needed. For more information on building and maintaining partnerships please see for more information: OPRE blog post on research partnerships and evidence use and the Brief on How to Build and Strengthen Partnerships between CCDF Lead Agencies and Early Care and Education Researchers: Supporting Evidence to Inform Policy. (3) If you need contact information for CCDF Lead Agencies, please see the Contact information for state and territory CCDF Lead Agencies and the Contact information for tribal CCDF Lead Agencies. Funding is subject to availability of funds and the best interests of the federal government. For further information about OPRE, see https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre.