Evidence Based Strategy
Coordinated Recruitment and Enrollment is a strategy designed to simplify and streamline how families access early care and education (ECE) services, particularly comprehensive, specialized, and intervention programs. Too often, families, especially those in underserved and marginalized communities, face fragmented systems with multiple applications, eligibility rules, and deadlines. This creates barriers to participation and contributes to inequities in access to quality ECE.
By establishing centralized access points, integrating data, and fostering cross-agency collaboration, communities can make the ECE system more transparent, equitable, and efficient. Families benefit from one-stop entry into multiple services, better guidance through complex eligibility and enrollment processes, and access to support services that address barriers such as transportation, language, or documentation challenges.
At the systems level, coordinated recruitment and enrollment creates efficiencies for providers and agencies by reducing duplication, ensuring more equitable distribution of resources, and improving planning based on real-time data about community needs. This coordination also helps align resources with demand, ensuring high-need areas are prioritized for capacity expansion and outreach.
Ultimately, the strategy matters because it builds a family-centered, equitable, and efficient ecosystem that supports kindergarten readiness, strengthens family well-being, and maximizes the impact of early childhood investments.
National and state partners have demonstrated that coordinated recruitment and enrollment systems improve equity, access, and efficiency in early childhood education. The Learning Policy Institute highlights that centralized enrollment systems used in Alabama, West Virginia, and New York City are critical for ensuring equitable access within mixed-delivery systems. Similarly, New America’s Connecting More Families to Early Care and Education Programs Through Streamlined Enrollment brief shows how centralized portals in cities such as New York, Denver, Philadelphia, and Houston help families navigate eligibility, match to available programs, and complete enrollment.
Federal partners also emphasize the importance of coordination. The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) at ACF includes coordinated services in its national research portfolio, underscoring the federal commitment to reducing fragmentation and supporting families through streamlined processes. At the community level, Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies, as documented by Child Care Aware of America, have long provided family access points, connecting parents with child care options, financial support, and referrals while generating data to inform planning and policy.
Evidence from New Orleans’ OneApp shows how reducing process complexity increases participation. A randomized controlled trial found that sending text message reminders to parents navigating a centralized enrollment process significantly improved verification of eligibility and enrollment completion. The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), in State(s) of Head Start and Early Head Start further demonstrates that variation across states in access and funding underscores the need for better coordination between Head Start, state agencies, and local partners to ensure equitable opportunities.
Thought leaders also frame coordinated enrollment as a cornerstone of system-building. Watershed Advisors’ ECE Framework envisions families enrolling their children “through a simple and equitable coordinated enrollment process,” noting that aligning funding streams and eligibility rules is central to equitable access. Broader research confirms that expanding equitable access to high-quality programs reduces opportunity gaps and yields long-term positive outcomes, making strategies such as coordinated enrollment vital to systemic impact.
For coordinated recruitment and enrollment systems to thrive, communities need several enabling conditions in place:
Infrastructure for Centralized Access
Cross-Sector Collaboration and Leadership
Data Systems and Technology
Family Supports
Ongoing Evaluation and Improvement
With these conditions in place, communities can establish a coordinated enrollment system that is sustainable, equitable, and responsive to family needs.
Track both early signals and long-term outcomes.
Access to and participation in high-quality early care and education (ECE) is a critical leading indicator of kindergarten readiness. Research in the United States shows that ECE participation supports the development of foundational skills in literacy, numeracy, self-regulation, and social interaction. In Kentucky, 2023 data confirm this connection, children enrolled in state-funded preschool or Head Start were more likely to be rated as “ready” for kindergarten on the state’s readiness screener compared to their peers who did not attend formal ECE programs.
To measure access and participation, Kentucky tracks the number and percentage of eligible children enrolled in three key programs: state-funded preschool, Head Start, and the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). These metrics capture both reach (how many children are served) and equity (how participation compares to the eligible population at state and local levels). Additionally, the average per-child cost of quality ECE, calculated at 160% of the federal poverty level, provides context for affordability, a major factor influencing access.
Monitoring these indicators helps policymakers, educators, and advocates identify gaps in enrollment, address barriers for underserved families, and target investments to ensure all Kentucky children can benefit from high-quality early learning experiences that set the stage for future success.
Third grade proficiency in reading and math is a critical lagging indicator for kindergarten readiness, reflecting the long-term impact of early learning experiences on academic achievement. Students who enter kindergarten ready to learn are significantly more likely to reach proficiency or higher on third grade state assessments. In Kentucky, data from the Brigance Kindergarten Screener shows a strong correlation: children rated as “ready” or “ready with enrichments” in kindergarten consistently outperform their peers in third grade reading and math, while those not ready are more likely to score at the novice or apprentice levels.
This relationship matters because third grade marks a pivotal shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” a transition that affects success across all subjects. Proficiency at this stage predicts future academic achievement, including middle and high school performance, graduation rates, and postsecondary readiness. Conversely, children who are not proficient by third grade face increased risks of grade retention, remedial coursework, and lower educational attainment.
As a lagging indicator, third grade proficiency captures the cumulative effects of children’s early environments, access to quality early care and education, and kindergarten readiness. It is an essential measure for evaluating the effectiveness of early childhood investments and identifying where supports are needed.
