Author name: Andrew Brodsky

Head Start Community Needs Assessment

Brodsky Research conducted a comprehensive community needs assessment for Adams County Head Start as part of a federally mandated requirement. This report evaluated needs among the Head Start-eligible population in Adams County, Colorado, and to determine what resources are currently available and what resources are needed to fill gaps. Interviews and surveys were conducted with …

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Colorado Preschool Development Grant Cost Evaluation and Needs Assessment

Colorado’s Preschool Development Grant (PDG) provides $33.5 million to support Colorado’s vision that all children are ready for school when entering kindergarten. Colorado Shines Brighter, the state’s PDG B-5 initiative, works to maximize the number of high-quality early care and education options available to families, especially families identified as vulnerable and underserved such as those …

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How To Buy An Election: Machine Learning to Predict Election Results

The Federal Election Prediction Model predicts U.S. House of Representatives election results using advanced machine learning algorithms. The analysis predicts the number of votes a candidate will receive in a given election cycle, taking into account campaign contributions and “dark money” spent on behalf of a candidate; candidate characteristics such as political party and incumbency status; …

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Bearing the Cost of Early Care and Education in Colorado: An Economic Analysis

BRC partnered with the Butler Institute at the University of Denver to understand Colorado’s early childhood workforce, including its current scope and the costs and obstacles to expanding it to meet future needs. The project was led by Dr. Meg Franko, Executive Director of the Butler Institute, and Dr. Andrew Brodsky. The project was sponsored …

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Strengthening Colorado’s Early Childhood Workforce

High-quality early childhood experiences are one of the most important factors that drive adult success. The child care industry is also an important component of Colorado’s economy. In spite of this, the high cost of quality child care remains out of reach for many parents, and wages for early childhood professionals remain low. BRC is partnering with the Butler …

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Presentation at the Early Childhood Social Impact Performance Advisors Conference

Each year, the Annual Conference of the Early Childhood Social Impact Performance Advisors hosts one of the nation’s most dynamic conversations about the feasibility, research, and policy implications of Pay for Success programs. The conference is organized by the Institute for Child Success, Ready Nation, and Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah, with whom I partner as a Senior Research Fellow.

Andrew Brodsky Partnering With Policy Innovation Lab On Pay For Success TA

I’m excited to be working with the Policy Innovation Lab at the University of Utah’s Sorensen Global Impact Investing Center to help develop Pay For Success programs across the Western U.S.  The PIL works across sectors to develop innovative, data-driven approaches to difficult social and public health challenges.  With support from the White House’s Social …

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The Five Warning Signs Of EAU (Evaluation As Usual)

Is your organization suffering from Evaluation As Usual (EAU)?  Symptoms of EAU include overly enthusiastic language about successes, wish-washy discussion of potentially negative results, and a general lack of objective and critical data analysis and discussion. Evaluation can be expensive, and billions of dollars are disbursed every year based on its results.  With this kind …

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EC State Advisory Councils Final Report Highlights Colorado and New York Cost-Effectiveness Models

The final report from the Early Childhood State Advisory Councils, released in May, documents the $92 million awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to 45 states to help build higher-quality early childhood systems.  The funding touched the lives of millions of children across the country and helped inform President Obama’s 2013 …

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Cool New Cost Effectiveness Tool From Center For Cost-Benefit Studies

Apart from the words “free ice cream”, there’s nothing more exciting in my mailbox than an e-mail that says “new web-based cost-effectiveness tool.”   Given the approximately 550$ billion we spend on K-12 education alone in this country, understanding the impact of our investment is more important than ever – so the easier it is to …

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Child Care in Canada: The Child Care 2020 Conference

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Child Care 2020 Conference in Winnipeg.  The conference is the fourth national child care conference in Canada’s history and the first in a decade.  Presenters from around the country and overseas talked about issues ranging from child care funding policy to play-based education to effective advocacy. …

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Three Lessons on Early Childhood Systems From Smart Start

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the annual Smart Start conference in Greensboro, N.C.  The conference also draws a spectrum of early childhood policy, research, practitioners and advocates from around the nation, in addition to a good chunk of North Carolina’s early childhood community. After spending the better part of a week immersed …

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Early Childhood Cost-Effectiveness in Colorado: RMECC Presentation

I had the opportunity to present some updated analyses of the cost-effectiveness of early childhood investments in Colorado at March’s Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference. The RMECC itself is a blast as it draws an unusually diverse combination of folks from all corners of the early childhood field, from teachers to directors to government agencies …

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Investor Returns in a Pay-For-Success Preschool Program in Colorado

There is increased buzz around the country for Pay For Success financing programs for early childhood initiatives.  Sometimes referred to as Social Impact Bonds, these programs allow investors to underwrite the costs of social programs and then reap financial benefits as societal costs savings are realized down the road. A number of interesting programs are …

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Early Childhood Cost Estimation in Developing Nations – My Presentation at ARNEC

Last month I had the pleasure of attending the Asia Regional Early Childhood Network (ARNEC) conference in Singapore.  It was remarkable to connect with engaged, passionate early childhood advocates from around the world. This week I report on my presentation at ARNEC (the full PowerPoint is here), which focused on approaches to ECD cost estimation …

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Funding Preschool in Colorado Could Create Billions in Benefits

Next week Colorado will vote on a constitutional amendment to raise $950 million for education funding.  Amendment 66, which Governor John Hickenlooper somewhat hubristically claims would be “one of the most comprehensive education-reform initiatives in the history of the United States,” would direct $165 million for full-day kindergarten and $77 million to expand the number …

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Evidence Base for Preschool: New Findings

A new study out this month sheds light on the evidence base for preschool education. The report, financed by the Foundation for Child Development and produced in collaboration with the society for Research in Child Development, concludes that high-quality preschool programs are “the most cost-effective educational interventions” for society as a whole.  That’s pretty big …

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