Strategic Relationships

Building a Comprehensive State Policy Strategy to Prevent Expulsion from Early Learning Settings provides a review of expulsion research, discusses dimensions of expulsion, and provides the Expulsion Policy Strategy Tool—a practical tool designed to support states and territories in designing and implementing a multifaceted policy approach to developing a continuum of supports for programs, families, and children. 

This brief explains what is required to build a system that helps to keep kids healthy and ready to learn and is easier for parents to understand and navigate. It explores how this kind of systems building work differs from direct services and program delivery. This brief also illustrates the need for systems building at the local level from the perspective of children and families who experience systems directly, as well as through the eyes of the service providers who work within those systems.

This strategy brief provides information and considerations for Child Care and Development Fund administrators and other policymakers working to improve access to high-quality care that meets the needs of school-age children. It provides a framework that illustrates ways the Child Care and Development Fund and other resources can be used to build a strongly aligned system of quality improvement for children from birth through age 12 and older. The brief also details the results of interviews with State child care staff and their school-age partners in seven States.

This brief highlights the importance of interagency collaboration and community partnerships, shares lessons learned by Systems of Care grantees, and describes steps and strategies that child welfare agencies can use to forge partnerships with child- and family-serving organizations and community members.

This PowerPoint provides an overview of research and theory regarding collaboration in the early childhood field and provides a research agenda for moving forward. It outlines five overarching questions that should be addressed by future research.

This chapter, part of a five-part report, provides an overview of new directions for organizing state human services, factors that contribute to existing organizational challenges, and strategies for improvement. It features a section on organizational strategies for tight budget times and factors for legislators to consider when making decisions about programs and agencies.

This brief examines the critical role of frontline staff in implementing change and outlines key steps and strategies for engaging them during times of change. Though this brief discusses strategies in the context of systems of care, the lessons and tips have broader application to other child welfare agency reform efforts that reflect new ways of working with children and families.

This PowerPoint explains how state-level collaboration leads to systems transformation. It provides an explanation of how collaborations can work to influence state and local systems, improve state and local programs, and ultimately increase the scope, scale and sustainability of outcomes.

This PowerPoint outlines considerations for measuring collaboration in the early childhood field. It describes key dimensions of collaboration, outcomes to consider, and methodological issues.

This guide describes state policy strategies that look beyond the major sources of child care and early education funding and consider alternative federal financing sources to bring comprehensive services into early childhood settings. It provides state policymakers and advocates with approaches that facilitate the innovative use of funds, encourage partnerships at the state and local level, and replicate promising models from other States.