Search

Abt’s evaluation of the Massachusetts’ ECSO initiative to support early education leaders found gains among leaders, educators, and classrooms.

Millions of U.S. children receive free or reduced-price lunches each school day, but that number drops greatly during summer. In 2014, summer nutrition programs reached only about 16 percent of the children who received food assistance during the year…

"We don’t have any food. They are going to take my kids! Can you help me?" The desperate plea of a mother came through my voicemail. It was dinner time; I had already left the office for the day. I had been working with this family for months to address several safety risk factors. It was a tough case, and my job as a Prevention Specialist with the Department of Social Services (DSS) was to keep this family safely intact. I felt the weight of this responsibility every day. I knew if I did not intervene, foster care would be imminent for the children. However, the call came during the few hours I slept between jobs. I made less than $30,000 per year at DSS and, to make ends meet, worked a second full-time job at a residential program for youth aging out of foster care.

Findings of the Abt-led Study of Nutrition and Activity in Child Care Settings (SNACS) suggest ample room for improvement in provision of physical activity opportunities during child care.