July 11–13, 2016
Washington, DC

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), in conjunction with the Office of Head Start (OHS), is pleased to announce the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) National Research Conference on Early Childhood. This announcement includes details about the conference, and a call for presentations.

This conference was formerly known as the Head Start National Research Conference. Since 1991, Head Start’s National Research Conference on Early Childhood has highlighted cutting edge research on low-income families with young children. In order to welcome participation from researchers, practitioners, and policymakers across early childhood fields, the conference is now called the Administration for Children and Families’ National Research Conference on Early Childhood.

About the Conference

Head Start is the nation’s leader in early childhood care and education and a center of innovation. OHS sponsors this conference to identify and disseminate research relevant to young children birth to age 8 and their families. There is particular focus on research that considers low-income families with young children. The conference encourages collaboration across the early childhood research field in order to build upon the evidence base for policy and practice.

This year’s theme is increasing access to high-quality early care and education experiences for low-income children from birth through early elementary school. Over the past decade, there has been substantial public investment at the national, state, and local levels. This support is aimed at improving the quality of early care and education. There also has been an effort to expand these services, including in Head Start, child care, home visiting, and pre-kindergarten.

It is clear that quality in early childhood has many components. It involves workforce training, practice improvement, and curriculum development. It requires accountability, measurement development and progress monitoring. Quality also includes parenting supports and parent engagement. The development of an evidence base to feed into continuous quality improvement is critical to the success of children, families, and programs.

Call for Presentations: Due Dec. 18 (extended from Dec. 9th)

The Conference Program Committee invites proposals for posters, symposia, and poster symposia. Presentations may discuss recent research (published or unpublished) or synthesized findings. The online submission system opens the week of Nov. 16, 2015. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015.

Research presented at the 2016 Conference will address knowledge gaps across service delivery systems. Sessions will be consistent with the theme. They will focus on improving understanding of the quality factors that impact programs and families and the evaluation of approaches for improving quality. The sessions also will address obstacles and solutions regarding families’ access to high-quality care and education. Methods and measurement development for examining quality and family decision-making regarding early childhood education also will be in line with this theme.

See the Call For Presentations for more details about the theme and guidance for submitting a proposal. Learn more about the conference and what is required to submit a proposal online at www.rcec2016.net.

For general submission questions or details on how to submit a paper application, contact Jennifer Pinder at 1-800-503-8442, ext. 7054, or by email at rcec2016@impaqint.com.

For More Information

Select the link to review materials from previous conferences: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/events/head-start-national-research-conferences

Check back often for more details about this event and the call for presentations. We look forward to seeing you in July!