Innovative Birth Center Models in Georgia's Health Landscape

Innovative Birth Center Models in Georgia's Health Landscape is sponsored by Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. Funding opportunity for innovative birth center models to enhance maternity care in Georgia.

Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning Research | Child Trends Projects | Child Trends Experts Careers Contact Us Newsletter Signup LinkedIn YouTube Bluesky Instagram Newsletter Signup LinkedIn YouTube Bluesky Instagram Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning Research Access to Child Care and Early Education Since 2013, Child Trends has partnered with Georgia's Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) to provide consultation and actionable research that support child care and early education work in the state.

Our team has led numerous research and evaluation projects in Georgia that inform policy, improve the quality of child care, and strengthen supports for the early childhood workforce. Child Trends is currently conducting a statewide mixed-methods study to examine quality in licensed child care programs across Georgia.

We are randomly selecting a representative sample of: Child care learning centers Family child care learning homes Standalone afterschool programs Participating programs take part in on-site observations and their staff complete surveys to share insights on their experiences and needs.

By combining observation data from multiple age groups with provider feedback, this study will help DECAL strengthen supports for child care providers and guide continuous quality improvement efforts. Child Trends is evaluating DECAL’s multi-track implementation of the Pyramid Model, which helps early childhood educators support children’s social and emotional development.

This mixed-methods study examines outcomes for two training models: ePyramid Module training with professional learning communities (PLCs) facilitated by DECAL staff—for educators new to the Pyramid Model Pyramid Model trainings for all center staff and one-on-one classroom coaching for educators with prior ePyramid Module experience Through surveys, focus groups, classroom observations, and activity logs we are examining how training intensity is related to outcomes in educators’ knowledge, confidence, and teaching practices.

Findings will inform DECAL’s ongoing professional development efforts for early educators. Our previous research has found evidence that, after participating in ePyramid Module trainings, teachers improved their social and emotional learning knowledge and practices, increased self-efficacy, and increased interactions with families. Future work will continue to examine outcomes related to increased levels of support.

CAPS 2Gen Student Parent Pilot Evaluation Child Trends is leading a mixed-methods evaluation of DECAL’s CAPS 2Gen Student Parent Pilot, which embeds CAPS (Childcare and Parent Services) child care subsidy specialists within Georgia’s technical colleges to support student parents.

Co-developing a theory of change with DECAL Administering a longitudinal survey of student parents who participate in the pilot Conducting interviews and focus groups with student parents and pilot leadership Conducting site visits to participating community colleges Analyzing administrative data about student parents from the Technical College System of Georgia and the state’s child care subsidy system Evaluation results will help DECAL and state partners’ work to strengthen supports for student parents and may inform future legislative decisions.

Link: CAPS Student Parent 2Gen Pilot Theory of Change Child Trends researchers have conducted a variety of research projects over the last decade, including the following: Evaluation of Georgia’s use of Pandemic Recovery Funding to support the ECE workforce and families (2023-2025) Summary: Reach of Pandemic Relief Projects Supporting Georgia’s Early Care and Education Programs Summary: Providers’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Georgia’s Pandemic Relief Funding Efforts Summary: Families’ Experiences With Georgia’s Pandemic Relief Funding Efforts Summary: Pandemic Relief Funding for Georgia’s ECE Providers and Families Through Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) Initiatives Summary: Pandemic Relief Funding for Georgia’s ECE Providers and Families Through Short-term Assistance Benefit for Licensed Entities (STABLE) Summary: Pandemic Relief Funding for Georgia’s ECE Providers and Families Through Providing Our Workforce Essential Recognition (POWER) Report: Pandemic Relief Funding Supported Georgia’s Center-Based Administrators, Family Child Care Providers, and Pre-K Administrators Report: Pandemic Relief Funding Supported Georgia’s Early Care and Education Workforce Report: Pandemic Relief Funding Supported Georgia’s Families With Young Children Evaluation of a Nutrition & Physical Activity Endorsement aimed at improving health-promoting practices in child care centers (2024-2025) Report: Evaluation of Georgia’s Quality Rated (Georgia’s quality rating and improvement system) Nutrition and Physical Activity Endorsement Pilot of Child Care Programs Blog: Five Keys to Implementing Nutrition and Physical Activity Professional Development in Child Care Programs Blog: Child Care Success Stories from Georgia’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Endorsement Pilot Evaluation of a Language & Literacy Endorsement aimed at improving literacy outcomes for children in child care centers and family child care settings (2020-2023) Report: Evaluation of Georgia’s Language and Literacy Endorsement, 2022-2023 Report: Evaluation of Georgia’s Pilot Language and Literacy Endorsement Report Trainer approval system landscape study and needs assessment related to Georgia’s system for approving professional development trainers and trainings (2021-2023) Evaluation of DECAL Scholars to assess DECAL’s program designed to minimize barriers to recruitment and retention of the ECE workforce (2021-2023) Report: Evaluation of Georgia’s DECAL Scholars Administrative data to examine potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on classroom quality, as captured in classroom observations using the Environment Rating Scale for Quality Rated, Georgia’s quality rating and improvement system (2022-2023) Report: Examining Quality in Georgia’s Child Care Centers Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic Evaluation of Awarding Child Care Education Scholarship Supplements (ACCESS ), a temporary initiative that paid ECE providers their full published rate for families who receive Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) from May 2021 to October 2023, to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic (2021-2023) Report: ACCESS Reduces Burden of Child Care Costs for Georgia's Families Evaluation of Quality Rated’s Temporary Alternate Rating Option (TARO), which allowed child care programs to earn a rating through a virtual rating process during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022) Report: Quality Rated’s Temporary Alternate Rating Option: Findings from Surveys and Interviews Report: Quality Rated’s Temporary Alternate Rating Option: Findings from Administrative Data Evaluation of Lifting Infants and Toddlers Through Language-rich Environments (LITTLE) grants to support language and literacy instruction in high-quality infant and toddler classrooms (2017-2020) Report: Preliminary Analysis of Data Collected from Lifting Infants and Toddlers Through Language-rich Environments (LITTLE) Grants Quality Rated Validation studies to assess the effectiveness of Quality Rated, Georgia’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (2016-2020) Report: Quality Rated Validation Study Report #1: What Makes Up a Quality Rated Star Rating?

An In-Depth Look at the Criteria, Standards, and Components (August 2017) Report: Quality Rated Validation Study Report #2: A Further Look at the Programs in Quality Rated (March 2018) Report: Quality Rated Validation Study Report #3: Director, Teacher, and Provider Perceptions of Quality Rated (October 2018) Report: Quality Rated Validation Study Report #4: Quality Rated Star Ratings and Independent Measures of Quality, Children’s Growth, and Work Climate Report: Google and Yelp Reviews of Early Care and Education in Georgia Pre-K Third Grade Achievement Study compared third grade test scores for children who had (and had not) taken part in Georgia’s Pre-K (2016-2017) Report: Third-Grade Achievement for Children Who Participated in Georgia’s Pre-K Executive Summary: Third-Grade Achievement for Children Who Participated in Georgia’s Pre-K (Summary of Analysis) Evaluation of the Quality Rated Subsidy Grants (QRSG) Pilot program, a novel approach to improving access to high-quality early care and education by issuing grants to providers to serve children from low-income families, rather than the usual child care subsidy vouchers (2016-2017) Report: Voices From the Field: Providers’ Experiences with Implementing DECAL’s Quality Rated Subsidy Grant Pilot Program Through rigorous research and close collaboration, Child Trends provides actionable insights that help DECAL make decisions about investments to strengthen the early childhood education system for Georgia’s children, families, and early educators.

Principal investigator: Diane Early Project director: Diana Gal-Szabo Task lead: Annie Davis Schoch CAPS 2Gen Student Parent Pilot Evaluation Access to Child Care and Early Education Early Childhood Early Childhood Data Early Childhood Workforce Health, Development, and Well-being Program Quality Improvement Supported Families