Explore:
Inequities in early childhood education and care (ECEC), formal education and youth training.
Test:
Novel solutions to known problems, collaborating with stakeholders.
Create:
Knowledge mobilization tools, including evidence-informed policy.
We draw on multidisciplinary insights from many fields, including economics, applied psychology and human development, and political science. We work with researchers across Canada and abroad to answer questions, develop interventions and mobilize information.
Featured Insight…
“It is almost impossible to get a spot when you need it”: Understanding parental knowledge and experiences of Canada’s new child care policy
Starting in 2021/2022, Canada implemented a new early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy, the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC). CWELCC aims to reduce the cost of child care to an average of $10CA/day. However, prior implementation of similar...
Quantitative Analysis and Methods
Does work-integrated learning provide a labour market advantage?
Proponents of “on-the-job” training say it provides a vital supplement to in-class learning. But does it really help graduates get jobs?
The book or the bank?
Our latest report breaks down which factor has a greater effect on Canadians’ educational attainment: their parents’ education, or their parents’ income level.
The Income Gradient in College Enrolment and Graduation
Parental income is still the strongest predictor of a students’ likelihood of pursuing higher education. Can policy solutions even the playing field? This report analyzes the most promising interventions.
Intervention Creation and Testing
Beyond the mask: Decoding children’s mental health patterns amidst COVID-19 and the role of parenting
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on children and families worldwide. Children’s mental health has been at the forefront of pandemic research, with several observational studies documenting its decline. Limited person-centred research exists, however,...
Improving young children’s peer collaboration in early educational settings
Peer collaboration is a foundational skill that emerges in early childhood. Children spend significant time in early educational settings, making it an important setting where young children can learn how to collaborate with peers. However, research on how to support children’s collaboration effectively is limited and findings in this area have been inconsistent.
Teaching home-visitors to support responsive caregiving
Home-visiting programs are a common and effective public health approach to promoting parent and child well-being, including in low- and middle-income
countries. The World Health Organization and UNICEF have identified responsive caregiving as one key component of the nurturing care children need to survive and thrive.
Nonetheless, the importance of responsive caregiving and how to coach it is often overlooked in trainings for staff in home-visiting programs.
Designing Effective Policy Responses
Charting the Rise of School Choice across Canadian Provinces
This article introduces and discusses the findings of the Canada School Choice Policy Index (CSCPI). This is the first index of its kind that measures the development of school choice policies across the Canadian provinces from 1980 to 2020 using eight unique indicators of choice.
School choice, policy feedback effects, and policy outcomes
Across OECD countries, education choice is proliferating as parents seek and governments permit choice both inside and outside public education systems. The movement of students out of the common public school, however, varies significantly across jurisdictions and sociodemographic characteristics such as race and class. This variation in individual decision making and macro policy outcomes directs us to theorise about the relationship between parental preferences, government responses, and policy outcomes.
Not Hidden but Not Visible
A growing body of comparative public policy research examines the effects of delegated delivery of public services and the related emergence of what is labelled a submerged state that obscures the role of government in the provision of public services.
Mailing Address
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