Toward High-Quality Early Childhood Development Programs and Policies at National Scale - Directions for Research in Global Contexts

Oct 15, 2026

With decades of evidence supporting early childhood development (ECD) programs and policies, investment has expanded globally, and over 70 nations now have national ECD legislation. Yet systems capacity to support ECD across health, education, and social protection remains weak, limiting developmental potential within and across countries. This report builds a research agenda on systems-level factors at national, subnational, and local levels that enable or constrain implementation, reviews challenges, and discusses measurement and methodological directions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages36

Reading Time1 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Purpose and research agenda

Scale processes: small to bigger and big to better

Systems factors across levels and measurement implications

Methodological challenges and future directions

Editorial perspective and framing

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| | Volume 31, Number 1 | 2018
Social Policy Report | | --- | --- | --- | Toward High-Quality Early Childhood Development Programs and Policies at National Scale: Directions for Research in Global Contexts Hirokazu Yoshikawa and Alice J. Wuermli, New York University Abbie Raikes, University of Nebraska Sharon Kim and Sarah B. Kabay, New York University ABSTRACT With decades of evidence to support early childhood development (ECD) programs and policies, investment in ECD has expanded worldwide. Currently, over 70 nations have national ECD legislation, the majority in the last 20 years. However, with these increased investments comes evidence that the capacity of policy systems to support ECD—across health, education, social protection, and other sectors—is weak, with unfulfilled developmental potential a serious consequence within and across countries. This report aims to develop a research agenda on the systems-level factors—at national, subnational, and local or municipal levels—that may enable or constrain program site-level implementation. Two types of scale—“small to bigger” and “big to better”—are described, as well as the specific challenges of these processes in the field of ECD. Systems factors are reviewed at the three levels, with implications of each for measurement. Finally, methodological challenges and directions are discussed with the aim of informing a research agenda to support national policy progress in early childhood development. Author Note: Work on this paper was supported by funding from the NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute to the Global TIES for Children Center at New York University. We thank J. Lawrence Aber, Harold Alderman, Maria Caridad Araujo, Jere Behrman, Alejandro Ganimian, Liana Gertsch, Aisha Yousafzai and participants at the meeting “Evidence for Scale: Research Methods to Support the Implementation of Quality Education and Early Childhood Development Programs at Large Scale in Global Contexts,” held at NYU Abu Dhabi in March 2016. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Global TIES for Children Center, New York University, 726 Broadway, 5th Floor, [hiro.yoshikawa@nyu.edu](hiro.yoshikawa@nyu.edu). [www.scrd.org](www.scrd.org) Society for Research in Child Development | 1 Social Policy Report Volume 31, Number 1 | 2018 ISSN 1075-7031 Social Policy Report is published four times a year by the Society for Research in Child Development. EDITORIAL TEAM Lead Editor Ellen Wartella, PhD [ellen-wartella@northwestern.edu](ellen-wartella@northwestern.edu) Assistant Editor Fashina Aladé [alade@u.northwestern.edu](alade@u.northwestern.edu) Editorial Board P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, PhD Sandra Waxman, PhD David Figlio, PhD Craig Garfield, MD Neil Jordan, PhD Terri Sabol, PhD David Uttal, PhD Diane Schanzenbach, PhD Dedre Gentner, PhD Matthew M. Davis, MD Amelie Petitclerc, PhD Rachel Flynn, PhD SRCD Policy Staff Martha Zaslow, PhD Patricia Barton, MPP Lauren Nemeroff Science Writer Anne Bridgman Managing Editor Lisa Braverman Editorial Assistant Stephanie Custer FROM THE EDITOR This Social Policy Report is both international in its perspective and pragmatic in its research recommendations. It is an argument for the development of new research to evaluate Early Childhood Development Programs (ECDs) both in the United States and around the world. The authors pose the question: What sort of research is needed to declare ECDs successful? Early Childhood Development programs now exist in over 70 countries and have been endorsed as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals recommendations. The question addressed in this report is: What systems level factors can be prioritized for measurement and research in order to facilitate “small to bigger” and “big to better” processes to achieve quality of national scale in ECD services? In short, can we

FAQs

Why is systems capacity a concern despite expanded ECD legislation?

Because increased investment has not matched sufficient capacity of policy systems across sectors like health, education, and social protection, leaving implementation potential unfulfilled.

What does the report aim to develop?

A research agenda focused on systems-level factors at national, subnational, and local levels that enable or constrain program implementation.

Which frameworks are proposed for conducting research at national or international levels?

The report outlines three frameworks: a dynamic systems theoretical approach, an implementation science approach, and a sociopolitical and cultural theoretical framework.

Oct 15, 2026

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