Weekly E-News
E-News: State of Preschool Webinar, New Research on New Jersey Summer Programs, and More
July 2, 2026
Hot Topics
Deep Dive Webinar Coming July 7: NIEER’s 2025 State of Preschool Yearbook
Register to join NIEER and the National Association of State Leaders in Early Education (NASLEE) Tuesday, July 7 at 3pm Eastern to discuss the 2025 State of Preschool Yearbook. The report authors will share highlights, discuss the early childhood education landscape, and answer questions about the report.
The report, released in April, finds that new preschool spending records were largely propelled by several states that aggressively increased enrollment and spending without raising quality standards. If providing high-quality preschool education to all 3- and 4-year-olds were a race, some states are nearing the finish line, others have stumbled and fallen behind, and a few have yet to leave the starting line.
In Journal of Early Intervention, Emine Kilincci, Hailey R. Love, and Zhe Gigi An published a systematic scoping review of 16 studies examining interventions for improving peer interactions in inclusive preschool classrooms. The review found that explicit social skills interventions, particularly peer-mediated approaches, were the most common strategies and were used primarily with 4-year-old White children on the autism spectrum. Most interventions focused on improving the language and social skills of children with disabilities while positioning typically developing peers as intervention partners. The authors conclude that future research should include a broader range of disabilities, improve reporting of children's racial, cultural, and language backgrounds, examine more naturalistic and classroom wide approaches, and expand the outcomes measured to better support inclusive early childhood education.
NIEER Activity
New Policy Brief: State Pre-K Enrollment Pre- and Post-Pandemic
NIEER's latest policy brief looks at enrollment trends pre- and post-pandemic in both state-funded preschool and K-3. Pre-K enrollment is influenced by some of the same social and demographic changes that affect K-12 enrollment, but state pre-K has far more room to grow than K-12, making preschool expansion a potential strategy to address issues created by K-12 enrollment declines.
The proportion of 4-year-olds enrolled in state-funded pre-K programs doubled between 2002 and 2010. However, pre-K enrollment growth slowed by the late 2010s; simultaneously, enrollment in public kindergarten to third grade (K-3) began to decline in many states. Enrollment in both state pre-K and public K-3 fell during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, state pre-K enrollment has surpassed pre-pandemic levels nationally, but trends vary by state. Public K-3 enrollment as a percentage of the eligible population remains below pre-pandemic levels nationally. Both state pre-K and public K-3 enrollment appear to have returned to pre-pandemic trends, as 2024-2025 enrollment rates are very close to where pre-pandemic trends predicted.
Read more.
The 2025 State of Preschool Appendix is Here!
NIEER has released Appendix A of NIEER’s 2025 State of Preschool report, a set of comprehensive data tables containing information beyond what is found in the report’s state profile pages. Designed for researchers, policymakers, advocates, and other stakeholders seeking a deeper understanding of state preschool policies and programs, the appendix contains responses to all State of Preschool survey questions.
Topics addressed in the Appendix include:
- Access and Enrollment
- Program Operating Schedule
- Preschool Eligibility Criteria
- Preschool Program Standards
- Early Learning and Development Standards
- Curriculum
- Preschool Child Assessments
- Workforce and Compensation
- Resources and Funding
- Accountability
- Outdoor/Nature-Based Learning
The Real Cost of Rolling Back Head Start Wage Requirements
A new NIEER policy brief concludes that rolling back Head Start wage requirements could reduce Head Start's capacity to fulfill its mission. On May 12, 2026, the Office of Head Start published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to rescind 2024 Head Start teacher wage regulations. The regulations required the creation of wage scales and progress toward pay parity by 2031, with Head Start salaries reaching public pre-K levels or 90% of kindergarten teacher pay.
The new report, "The Real Cost of Rolling Back Head Start Wage Requirements," authored by NIEER’s Morgan Healy, Rachel Fidel, and Steve Barnett, sheds light on the relationships linking inadequate teacher pay to staff shortages, lower quality, and weaker child outcomes. It includes state-by-state data, including comparisons between Head Start and K-12 teacher salaries.
Read the report.
Focus on New Jersey Weekly Feature
NIEER’s new report provides a comprehensive analysis of summer programs in New Jersey, including their characteristics, enrollment, staffing, and operational details. Summer programs in NJ vary widely in structure, staffing, activities, and funding, impacting access, quality and experiences for children, and affordability for families.
This effort is part of a multi-center collaborative project with the Center for Women and Work and the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, with support and collaboration from the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (NJ DCF).
Read more.
International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy (IJCCEP) Weekly Feature
Is Free Pre-Primary Education Associated with Increased Primary School Completion? A Global Study
Alison Earle, Natalia Milovantseva, and Jody Heymann examined whether providing free and compulsory pre- primary education is associated with higher rates of primary school completion across 104 countries. Using UNESCO data and multivariate quantile regression analyses, the researchers found that countries offering at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education had primary school graduation rates that were nearly 10 percentage points higher at the median and approximately 12 percentage points higher among countries with the lowest completion rates, even after controlling for national income and urbanization. The findings suggest that expanding access to free pre-primary education can improve school readiness, strengthen educational success in the early grades, and increase primary school completion, particularly in low and lower middle-income countries where educational attainment remains a significant challenge.
Publish in the International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy (IJCCEP)
- It’s FREE – article processing charges for all articles published in the journal are fully sponsored.
- The journal is indexed by Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and by Scopus.
- All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 license. Authors will retain copyright.
ECE Research
Analia Silberman, Brechtje de Mooij, Minne Fekkes, and Geertjan Overbeek, writing in Early Education and Development, conducted a multilevel meta-analysis of 87 studies involving 20,293 preschool children ages 3 to 5 to determine which components contribute most to the effectiveness of social emotional learning (SEL) interventions. Across 70 interventions and 617 effect sizes, SEL programs produced large improvements in children's interpersonal skills (d = 0.63) and emotional skills (d = 0.64), along with smaller reductions in internalizing behavior problems (d = 0.15). No individual intervention component, including psychoeducation, interpersonal activities, or cognitive exercises, consistently outperformed the others. However, interventions that emphasized emotion recognition exercises requiring advanced social emotional reasoning tended to produce weaker outcomes. The findings suggest that preschool SEL programs should emphasize developmentally appropriate activities rather than relying heavily on complex emotion recognition tasks.
Noilakhon Nodir qizi Tolipova and Dilnoza Dadakhanovna Zuparova, writing in The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations, examined whether the speed of implementing the Reggio Emilia approach influences its effectiveness in early childhood education. Using a cross institutional dataset from preschool programs in Europe, the United States, and Asia and a Difference in Differences analysis, the researchers found that while the Reggio Emilia approach was generally associated with positive developmental outcomes, rapid implementation produced weaker results than gradual, phased adoption. The study also found that comprehensive teacher training and thoughtful cultural adaptation improved outcomes and reduced the negative effects of rapid implementation. The findings suggest that successful adoption of child centered educational approaches depends not only on the model itself but also on careful implementation, adequate professional development, and attention to local contexts.
Enhancing Home Visits to Promote Parents’ Sensitive Scaffolding Among Families Living in Poverty
Ye Rang Park, Christina N. Kim, Robert L. Nix, Douglas Hemken, Sukhdeep Gill, Michelle L. Hostetler, Mark E. Feinberg, Lori A. Francis, and Cynthia A. Stifter, writing in Early Childhood Research Quarterly, evaluated the Recipe 4 Success intervention, a curriculum embedded within Early Head Start home visits to strengthen parents’ sensitive scaffolding of toddlers’ learning and self-regulation among families living in poverty. In a randomized controlled trial involving 242 families, the intervention was especially effective for parents who initially demonstrated lower levels of sensitive scaffolding, with 58% improving to a moderate level after the program compared with only 15% of parents receiving standard home visits. Most families maintained these gains for nine months after the intervention ended, demonstrating lasting benefits. The findings suggest that embedding structured, evidence based curricula into home visiting programs can strengthen parenting practices and better support the developmental needs of young children in economically disadvantaged families.
Opportunities
2026 Exhibition & Atelier: Mosaic of Marks, Words, Materials
The 2026 Exhibition & Atelier: Mosaic of Marks, Words, Materials is an internationally recognized traveling exhibition from Reggio Emilia, Italy, hosted in Winooski, Vermont by RIVET (Reggio Inspired Vermont Early Education Team) in collaboration with the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) and local partners. The exhibition will be open from July 1 through August 15, 2026, providing a rare opportunity for educators, families, and community members to engage with the philosophy and practices of the Reggio Emilia Approach.
The exhibition showcases authentic documentation, artwork, and research from the municipal infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia, highlighting how children use drawing, mark-making, storytelling, and materials as interconnected languages for thinking and communicating.
Complementing the exhibition is an interactive atelier (studio) experience where participants can experiment with diverse materials, tools, and surfaces that encourage curiosity, exploration, and meaning-making.
The LEGO Foundation Fellowship, SSRC
Principal Researcher/Sr. Fellow & Project Leader, Mathematica
Managing Director, CALDER, AIR
Program Officer, Children and Families, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation
Lead Advocacy Officer, ZERO TO THREE
Early Childhood Policy Manager, Zero To Five Montana
The Authors
Allison Muhlendorf manages external affairs for NIEER, including communications, earned and owned media, government relations, partnerships, and outreach. Allison and her team at Longleaf Strategies are conducting a communications audit for NIEER and developing a long-term external affairs strategy.
About NIEER
The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, conducts and disseminates independent research and analysis to inform early childhood education policy.
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