Child Trends

10/29/2026

At least 39 states and the District of Columbia now require school districts to restrict students’ use of cellphones and other smart devices. Every such policy is set up to answer two questions: When are students restricted from using their devices, and where are the phones stored? However, students and staff in schools operating under the same state mandate may experience the bans differently depending on choices made at the school and district levels.

In a new blog post, Child Trends experts provide a simple framework for understanding cellphone ban policies and approaches, along with considerations and best practices for states, districts, and schools developing and implementing these policies.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/student-cellphone-bans-differ-time-ban-place-storage

10/28/2026

The 2026 Syphilis Solutions Summit, hosted by Child Trends’ New Insights in Sexual Health (NISH) team, focused on expanding screening and treatment across the pregnancy-to-neonatal care continuum. The event spotlighted the strategies states and local communities are using to ensure no pregnant patient or newborn falls through the cracks. Now, you can watch the webinar and explore additional resources and in-depth answers to questions asked during the event.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/expanding-screening-treatment-across-pregnancy-to-neonatal-care-continuum

10/28/2026

Which among a young child’s daily experiences make a difference in their developmental well-being? A recent brief from Healthy and Ready to Learn finds that 3-year-olds who spend more time outdoors, have limited screen time, participate in language-rich activities like reading and storytelling, or attend preschool are more likely to demonstrate stronger developmental well-being. Read the brief to learn more:

Young children’s developmental well-being spans multiple domains, including physical health, motor skills, social-emotional functioning, self-regulation, and early language and math skills. Development in these domains is shaped by a combination of factors including the child’s individual charac...

10/23/2026

What can data tell us about the experiences and conditions that shape young children’s development? Watch the webinar recording to explore the latest findings from the Healthy and Ready to Learn (HRTL) measure, a nationally and state-representative indicator of development among 3-year-olds.

Child Trends hosted a webinar exploring the Healthy and Ready to Le...

10/22/2026

October is National Farm to School and Early Care and Education Month! Check out this Child Trends blog post to learn more about how some child care programs in Georgia are improving their nutrition and physical activity services. To illustrate these findings, our blog post highlights how two child care programs have made meaningful changes to support the well-being of their children, families, and program staff through Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) Nutrition and Physical Activity Endorsement Pilot program.

Recognizing child care’s vital role in shaping children’s healthy eating and physical activity habits, Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL)…

10/21/2026

October is National Financial Planning Month, a reminder to track one’s finances, set goals, and create plans and budgets to reach them. The ability to manage finances well in adulthood starts with conversations children have with their parents at home. Child Trends’ new analysis of nationally representative data shows that most parents have talked to their children about money or finances at some point in their lives, and that they use a variety of strategies to teach their children.

Early conversations about money may have far-reaching benefits for children, including improved financial habits and mental, physical, and relational well-being. This openness gives parents an opportunity to strengthen children’s financial capabilities with practical concepts and tools for lifelong financial well-being.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/parents-talked-kids-money-finances

10/21/2026

Good policy and programmatic decisions begin with high-quality information. Latino Families Flourishing (LFF), an initiative led by Child Trends’ Hispanic Institute and supported by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is working to generate that information by developing a national survey grounded in what Latino families and communities say actually matters. Guided by this intention, LFF held seven virtual engagement sessions with 86 organizational representatives and community leaders spanning health and education, child care, economic supports, community development, and other sectors.

Attendees affirmed what LFF heard directly from Latino parents and caregivers: Family closeness, relationships, and mutual support are central to Latino family flourishing. They also surfaced new priorities—like retirement planning and climate change—and generated over 200 ideas for survey questions. Beyond shaping the survey itself, attendees offered insight into what makes data accessible and usable: pairing statistics with real stories, offering benchmarks or comparisons, using a variety of formats, framing findings around family success, and providing technical assistance to communities.

Read more about how community voices are shaping this survey: https://www.childtrends.org/publications/community-based-organizations-design-latino-family-flourishing-survey

10/19/2026

How can states expand accessible and effective professional development opportunities for early educators? A new brief explores team coaching as a professional development (PD) approach and its potential to strengthen the early childhood workforce through shared learning, collaboration, and continuous improvement practices.

While team coaching is not yet widely used in state PD and quality improvement systems, early research shows promising potential for improving educator practices and outcomes for educators, children, and families. The brief examines the prevalence, level of investment, and reach of team coaching, as well as three examples of how team coaching is being implemented in quality improvement systems.

Read the brief:

This brief is organized into three parts. First, we provide background on the PD of early childhood educators and review literature on team coaching strategies. Next, we examine how team coaching strategies are currently implemented. Finally, we describe three examples of team coaching in QI systems...

10/16/2026

Child Trends has updated its interactive map that shows the variation in how approximately 30,000 Maryland families use the state’s Child Care Scholarship (CSS) program to enroll in highly rated child care. The CSS program assists families with low incomes in accessing quality-regulated child care each month by helping them pay for licensed child care centers, registered home-based care programs, or informal relative care providers. The updated map now includes additional contextual information, such as locations of providers and ZIP urban/rural status, giving readers new ways to explore the data.

Child Trends’ interactive map shows the variation in how approximately 30,000 Maryland families used the state’s Child Care Scholarship (CCS) subsidy program…

10/15/2026

The Healthy and Ready to Learn (HRTL) measure offers a new way to understand young children’s developmental well-being across the United States. This new blog post compiles key findings and insights from our research series on 3-year-olds to explore how children’s everyday experiences, families, neighborhoods, and access to health care are associated with their well-being.

A new national indicator is transforming how researchers, policymakers, and families understand young children’s well-being in the United States. Introduced in the 2022 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), the Healthy and Ready to Learn (HRTL) measure provides the first standardized, natio...