The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) received over $700 million in federal and state stimulus funding in 2020-2021, with resources supporting 60+ activities that address pandemic recovery needs and advance the department’s strategic goals to strengthen and grow Colorado’s early childhood sector.
Nearly half of the stimulus-funded activities are being evaluated, with the Colorado Lab coordinating and overseeing the efforts of multiple evaluation teams through the Early Childhood Evaluation Hub. The Hub approach
offers a number of benefits, including reduced administrative/financial burdens for the state, aligned evaluations that are anchored to a shared vision, and findings that are translated into actionable insights for policy and practice. Additionally, the Colorado Lab provides strategic visioning and consultation to CDEC beyond the stimulus-funded activities.
The first major output for the Early Childhood Evaluation Hub is a series of evidence-building briefs. Using the Evidence-Based Decision-Making (EBDM) framework, the briefs provide insights from the initial phases of evaluation work to inform policymakers as they head into the 2024 legislative session. Additional insights and findings will be shared as the stimulus-funded activities and their respective evaluations continue to unfold in communities across the state.
Learn more about CDEC’s lead role in using EBDM for stimulus-funded activities and the Department’s ongoing strategic planning, performance management, and budgeting—highlighted in the next article. Please reach out to Dr. Whitney LeBoeuf with questions or to learn more about the Colorado Lab’s Early Childhood Evaluation Hub or the evidence briefs.