Crane, Ohio Department of Children and Youth receive $2 million federal grant to study child care

The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy and Ohio’s Department of Children and Youth (DCY) have received a $2 million grant to study child care quality, access, and child outcomes as part of the federal Child Care Policy Research Partnerships (CCPRP) initiative. Funded through the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF), CCPRP grants support new research and evaluation occurring through cooperative partnerships between research organizations and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) lead agencies.

Through the five-year project, Analyzing the Impacts of Changes to QRIS Policy and Subsidy Rates on Family Access, Provider Quality and Burden, and School Outcomes Among Low-Income Children, researchers will study the impacts of recent changes to Ohio’s child care quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) as well as increases to subsidy rates for child care providers offering publicly funded child care.

In 2024, Ohio made historic systems-level changes to Step Up to Quality, Ohio’s QRIS, to streamline and lessen administrative burdens among child care providers and place a more targeted emphasis on standards that align with quality care. Additionally, Ohio has increased the amount the state pays providers to care for children receiving child care subsidies, an important policy lever to improve equitable access to child care for Ohio families and to better reflect the true cost of providing quality care. Researchers will analyze how and whether these policy changes and funding increases have impacted providers’ capacity to serve children, particularly infants and toddlers and those with special needs. They will also examine whether there have been impacts to families’ access to high-quality care, as well as any impact on kindergarten outcomes among children who used subsidized care.

“Like many states, Ohio has evolved its QRIS policies and funding for child care over time. It is important to understand how these have affected child care providers as well as families with young children,” said Dr. Kelly Purtell, Crane Center faculty associate and a Co-Principal Investigator of the study. “Our project enables us to provide real-time information to our partners at DCY, and to learn from research partners in other states who have similar goals of improving child care quality and access.”

Kara Wente, Director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth

The project will be supported by a consortium of research-policy partnerships across the U.S. The newly funded Ohio team, which includes Principal Investigator Dr. Lauren Jones, Principal Investigator Dr. Kelly Purtell, Co-Investigator Jamie O’Leary, Co-Investigator Dr. Laura Justice, and Project Coordinator Krista Pattison, will join partners from across the nation to communicate findings, identify opportunities for research coordination, and learn from one another with the ultimate goal to produce findings of relevance to local, state, and national child care policy.

“We are eager to understand the impacts of Ohio’s new, streamlined QRIS system and changes to provider subsidy rates,” said DCY Director Kara Wente. “The Department, with the support of Governor DeWine and Lt. Governor Husted, has worked hard to make intentional, thoughtful changes to Step Up to Quality to streamline requirements and support activities that promote access and quality to Ohio families. And, we want to understand how those efforts are working in practice and how we can continue to support Ohio’s working families. There is much to learn in Ohio and nationally about how states can best support, regulate, and incentivize quality so that more young children are in quality learning environments. This project and consortium is a great opportunity for the state of Ohio.”

CCPRP grants have been awarded to states and research partners since 1995; this is the first award to the state of Ohio.