OPRE Report 2025-061 - Estimating the Costs of Implementing Workforce Development Strategies in Child Care and Early Education: A Methodological Guide

Oct 15, 2026

Highlights design considerations for conducting cost studies of child care and early education (CCEE) workforce development strategies, aimed at practitioners, decision-makers, and researchers. Explains how cost studies can inform resource allocation, economic feasibility, and the replication or scaling of successful strategies. Notes a knowledge gap found in the BASE environmental scan and literature review, particularly for studies comparing costs across strategies. Introduces ingredients-method foundations and cautions against misestimated costs that can affect CCEE settings and the field’s interpretation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Guidance Purpose and Rationale

Cost Studies for Resource Allocation and Feasibility

BASE Findings and Knowledge Gaps

Methodological Approach

Ingredients Method Overview

Mixed-Methods Data Collection for Resource Inventories

Applications and Considerations

Study Design Tailoring and Coordination

Avoiding Incorrect Cost Estimates

Key Terminology

Cost Analysis and Related Economic Evaluations

OPRE Report 2025-061 Estimating the Costs of Implementing Workforce Development Strategies in Child Care and Early Education: A Methodological Guide Rebecca Davis This brief highlights design considerations for cost studies of child care and early education (CCEE) workforce development strategies. Cost studies can offer valuable information to CCEE practitioners, decision-makers, and researchers to help them understand how resources have been allocated in existing strategies. Cost studies can also be helpful in deciding if it is economically feasible to implement a strategy and to determine the resources that may be necessary to replicate or scale successful strategies. The Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) environmental scan and literature review revealed a dearth of information on the costs of implementing CCEE workforce development strategies, particularly studies that systematically compare the costs of different strategies.1 (See Box 1 for more information on the BASE project.) Information on costs is often highly valued by CCEE administrators as they seek to make impactful workforce The Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) project aims to increase knowledge and understanding in child care and early education (CCEE) by documenting factors that drive workforce turnover and by building evidence on current initiatives to recruit, advance, and retain a stable and qualified CCEE workforce. decisions, making this critical gap an important area for further inquiry. 1 Bernardi, Hsueh, Roach, and Rau (2023); Maier and Roach (2023) . Box 1. The Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce Project High-quality, stable child care and early education (CCEE) can have lasting, positive impacts on children. * However, there are ongoing challenges in recruiting, supporting, and retaining a qualified and stable CCEE workforce that provides high-quality care.† While several states and localities are taking steps to build and stabilize their CCEE workforce, important questions remain about how to best strengthen the workforce to meet the needs of children and families. Additionally, there is limited evidence about the effectiveness of these strategies, their implementation, or their cost. The Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) project aims to increase knowledge and understanding about CCEE by documenting factors that drive turnover in the field and by building evidence on current initiatives to recruit, advance, and retain a stable and qualified CCEE workforce. As part of the BASE project, the study team completed a literature review and an environmental scan designed to identify and document existing knowledge about the CCEE workforce and strategies to strengthen it. The team also conduct-ed a scan of existing data that could be used to study workforce dynamics and conducted analyses using several of these data sources to illustrate how they can be used to address gaps in knowledge. NOTES: *Burchinal, Magnuson, Powell, and Soliday Hong (2015) .†Markowitz, Bassok, and Hamre (2018); Shonkoff and Bales (2011) . The information presented in this brief pertains specifically to inventorying the resources needed to implement a workforce development strategy and in turn assess the costs and potential savings associated with that strategy. The proposed design considerations could be relevant to a stand-alone cost study or a cost study completed alongside an impact study, an implementation study, or both. The methodological basis for this work is the ingredients method, designed by Henry Levin, that specifically estimates costs in education settings. Alternatives to the ingredients method exist, although many are similar in aim and technique. The ingredients method is presented here because of its relatively widespread adoption in education settings, making the resulting estimates

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the OPRE cost-study guidance?

To help users determine whether a cost study is appropriate for their questions and to identify key design considerations for estimating implementation costs in CCEE workforce development strategies.

Why are cost studies considered valuable in CCEE workforce development?

They provide information about how resources are allocated, whether implementing a strategy is economically feasible, and what resources may be needed to replicate or scale successful strategies.

What methodology is used to estimate costs in this guidance?

The guidance presents the ingredients method, designed for estimating costs in education settings using mixed-methods data collection to identify the quantity and quality of resources contributing to a program or intervention.

Oct 15, 2026

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