ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to describe two key processes embraced by Educare, an enhanced Head Start/Early Head Start program, with the goal of informing cross-site, collaborative, applied research. The two processes are: (1) common data collection across multiple sites, and (2) use of data to impact program and policy at multiple levels. Educare’s “lessons learned” through implementing these two processes will be shared to inform the formation and implementation of a research consortium of lab schools. Although Educare is not a university-based laboratory school, its focus on combining robust, embedded research with the delivery of a high-quality comprehensive child and family development program designed for children and families living in poverty is an example of Applied Developmental Science (ADS) (Lerner, Jacobs, & Wertlieb, 2003, 2005) in action that has important implications for building and analyzing databases to answer the most relevant contemporary program-and policy-oriented questions related to early care and education.
