This paper summarizes the CaliforniaKids and Healthy Kids programs—county-based insurance programs in California for low-income children. The study examined features of both programs, use of basic health care services by the children enrolled, and typical experiences accessing inpatient...

This report details how Head Start—the largest federally funded early childhood education program in the U.S. that reaches one million children—uses a multilevel approach to prevent childhood obesity that involves staff, parents, and community partners.

This article examined home learning environments in a sample of 1,852 low-income families and their children at ages 1, 2, 3, and 5 years. The study found enriched learning experiences as early as 15 months are important to children's vocabulary growth and provide a foundation for children's...

This article examines the association between attentive and aggressive behavior (at the child- and class-level) and individual child achievement. Children with low attention, alone or in combination with aggressive behavior, made fewer gains in test scores during kindergarten. Additionally,...

Health-e-App Public Access (HeA PA) is a self-service, online application for California's Healthy Families Program. This research brief describes the potential benefits of HeA PA for applicants and the state enrollment system, as well as use of the tool during its first year. The study found...

Mathematica’s wide-ranging evaluation of Covering Kids and Families (CKF), a national initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is documenting the program’s success in increasing enrollment in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid. This brief reviews evaluation...

A usual source of care has been considered an important goal for children’s health care for many years and has been linked to many positive outcomes—increased use of preventive care, decreased use of emergency room care, and better continuity of care. This report synthesizes qualitative...