University of Illinois Collaborative Releases Overview of Illinois Early Childhood Programs and Services

A new report from the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC) at the University of Illinois' Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) provides a comprehensive overview of early childhood programs in Illinois from the perinatal period (before and after birth) to 5 years old. In the introduction to the report, authors Yi Wang and Meg Bates write that their goal is to "to collect and collate detailed information about available programs into one usable resource for early childhood professionals, policymakers, and other stakeholders."

The Comprehensive Overview of Illinois Early Childhood Programs and Services is the first project in the Early Childhood Research portfolio of work. Through this work, researchers hope to identify the effectiveness of different pathways and provide important evidence for early childhood interventions and policies aiming to promote equality of opportunity. 

The report summarizes programs across six dimensions: 

• ages served
• affiliated government departments
• content areas
• delivery methods
• funding sources
• existing evidence of effectiveness (detailing outcomes measured in existing literature, and main findings of nationwide and Illinois-specific research)