Background
For the past two decades, the federal government, states, and communities have encouraged collaborations among child care, Head Start, and prekindergarten (pre-K) with the aim of supporting young children’s school readiness while also meeting the child care needs of working parents. According to the National Survey of Early Care and Education, 72% of early care and education centers reported receiving some government funding, whether from local, state, or federal sources. Further analyses revealed that 39% of child care centers reported enrolling children who were participating in Head Start, public pre-K, or both (National Survey of Early Care and Education Project Team, Citation2015). Thus, a large percentage of child care and early education providers jointly deliver services to young children and their families.
At the same time, in recent years, most states have formed early childhood advisory councils and interagency teams to stimulate collaborations among child care, Head Start, and pre-K with the aim of enhancing the quality of services that ultimately translate into improved child outcomes (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Citation2013). Moreover, through the federal Preschool Development and Expansion Grants and the Early Head Start–Child Care Partnership grant program, early care and education providers have been working together to address differences in standards and services that exist across programs to better meet the needs of young children and their working parents (U.S. Department of Education, Citation2016; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Citation2017).
Published peer-reviewed articles describe the nature of collaborations, and some articles have examined the benefits of collaborations. Gilliam (Citation2008) reported that collaborations among child care, Head Start, and pre-K have the potential to better serve children and families through seamless services. Selden, Sowa, and Sandfort (Citation2006) as well as Schilder and Smith Leavell (Citation2014) studied the characteristics of programs in collaborations and the benefits of collaborations. These authors found that child care and Head Start programs with greater organizational capacity are more likely to engage in collaborations and reported that these collaborations are correlated with improved classroom quality. Whitebook, Ryan, Kipnis, and Sakai (Citation2008) reported that collaborations can lead to improved staff education and professional development opportunities. Moreover, Lim, Schilder, and Chauncey (Citation2007) found that collaborations are predictive of improvements in comprehensive services for parents.
In addition to the peer-reviewed research, many technical and evaluation reports have been released in recent years on the topic of early care and education collaboration (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Early Childhood Development, Citation2016; Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Citation2010). Yet existing peer-reviewed research articles and conceptual frameworks do not adequately reflect the field’s understanding of the nature of early care and education collaborations or the relationship between such collaborations and desired outcomes. As Del Grosso, Akers, Mraz Esposito, and Paulsell (Citation2014) reported, although dozens of technical reports on collaboration exist, currently there are significant gaps in the peer-reviewed literature on early care and education collaboration.
Purpose and Types of Manuscripts
The purposes of this special issue are to (a) present evidence-based conceptual frameworks that reflect the unique and varied characteristics of collaboration, (b) describe the nature and characteristics of the varied child care and early education providers engaged in collaboration, (c) highlight contemporary methods and approaches used to examine collaboration, (d) present research on the relationship between collaboration and desired outcomes, (e) describe changes in the conceptualization or outcomes of collaboration over the past two decades, and (f) use interdisciplinary approaches to better understand and document the relationship between early care and education collaboration and desired outcomes.
Manuscripts representing a broad range of qualitative and quantitative approaches are encouraged. The focus could be on state, community, or program-level collaborations and on outcomes of collaboration at the child, classroom, staff, family, or community levels. As indicated above, studies involving interdisciplinary perspectives are especially encouraged.
Submissions
In the cover letter please specify that your manuscript is being submitted for the special issue on early care and education collaboration. All papers will be initially screened by the editors, and papers that fit well with the theme of this special issue will be sent out for blind peer review. Please submit your blinded manuscript at http://www.editorialmanager.com/eed/.
Submissions will follow the journal’s regular blind review process. The guest editors and journal editor will make final acceptance decisions. Manuscripts must strictly conform to the formatting and writing style requirements of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Manuscripts that are accepted but not included in the special issue (because of space restrictions) will be published in a future issue of the journal.
Inquiries regarding this special issue, including an optional letter of intent with a brief description of the planned submission for the special issue, should be directed to Diane Schilder ([email protected]).
Submission deadline: June 1, 2018. Publication of this special issue is scheduled for October 2019.
Timeline for the special issue:
October and November/December 2017—Publication of call for papers
June 1, 2018—Deadline for submissions
September 2018—First reviews and comments to authors
December 2018—Reviews due and sent for second review if necessary
March 2019—Revision comments to authors
June 2019—Final edits completed by authors
August 2019—Proofs
October 2019—Publication
References
- Administration for Children and Families, Office of Early Childhood Development . (2016). Early Head Start-child care partnerships: Growing the supply of early learning opportunities for more infants and toddlers (Year One Report). January 2015–January 2016. Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ecd/ehs_ccp_report.pdf
- Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation . (2010). Collaborations in early child care and education: Establishing a framework for a research agenda. Washington, DC: United States Administration for Children and Families.
- Del Grosso, P. , Akers, L. , Mraz Esposito, A. , & Paulsell, D. (2014). Early care and education partnerships: A review of the literature (OPRE Report No. 2014-64). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
- Gilliam, W. S. (2008). Head Start, public school prekindergarten, and a collaborative potential. Infants & Young Children , 21(1), 30–44. doi:10.1097/01.IYC.0000306371.40414.7c
- Lim, Y. , Schilder, D. , & Chauncey, B. (2007). Supporting parents through Head Start-child care center partnerships. International Journal of Economic Development , 9(3), 205–238.
- National Survey of Early Care and Education Project Team . (2015). Which early care and education centers participate in Head Start or public pre-kindergarten? (OPRE Report No. 2015-92a). Retrieved from the Administration for Children and Families website: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/research/project/national-survey-of-early-care-and-education-nsece-2010-2014
- Schilder, D. , & Smith Leavell, A. (2014). Head Start/child care partnerships: Program characteristics and classroom quality. Early Childhood Education Journal , 43(2), 109–117. doi:10.1007/s10643-014-0640-y
- Selden, S. C. , Sowa, J. E. , & Sandfort, J. (2006). The impact of nonprofit collaboration in early child care and education on management and program outcomes. Public Administration Review , 66(3), 412–425. doi:10.1111/puar.2006.66.issue-3
- U.S. Department of Education . (2016). Preschool development grants . Retrieved from https://ed.gov/programs/preschooldevelopmentgrants/index.html
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . (2013). Administration for Children and Families . Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . (2017). Early Head Start-child care partnerships . Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ecd/early-learning/ehs-cc-partnerships
- Whitebook, M. , Ryan, S. , Kipnis, F. , & Sakai, L. (2008). Partnering for preschool: A study of center directors in New Jersey’s mixed-delivery Abbott Program . Berkeley, CA: University of California at Berkeley, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.