Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In emphasizing the objective of promoting child well-being, the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 incorporated several statutory changes. Among those changes, a longer redetermination period is believed to be an opportunity for improving the effects of the CCDF program on Illinois’ children and families: longer program participation spells are expected to render more stable usage of high quality child care arrangements and more stable parental employment spells. Because of its potential to significantly affect the well-being of Illinois’ children and families, identifying the actual effects of the new redetermination policy is a priority for the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) and for its partner agencies.

IDHS, in partnership with Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, is developing a comprehensive evaluation research agenda to answer how, by extending the CCDF redetermination period from six months to twelve months, the policy will affect broad outcomes in three domains: 1) parental employment; 2) continuity of care, and; 3) access to child care quality. The overarching aim of this effort is design a comprehensive, well defined and achievable research plan to answer those research questions. The evaluation plan will draw on research questions set forth in the Illinois Early Learning Council’s research agenda and will incorporate feedback from Illinois program and policy experts in the ECE field as well as technical research experts. This process will be informed by a diverse group of critical stakeholders both across the state in order to produce a methodologically rigorous, optimally policy-relevant evaluation and can provide actionable policy recommendations that reflect the realities of Illinois’ complex early learning and development system.

The presentation will discuss both the opportunities for and barriers to implementing a service innovation and a rigorous evaluation of that innovation. Attempting to change the course of a large statewide system of services in a budget-constrained, politically-charged public/private system is a significant undertaking that requires both substantial collaboration among stakeholders and a firm knowledge base upon which all stakeholders can build and sustain innovation.