Markers that Matter: Success Indicators in Early Learning and Education

July 22, 2013 /3BL Media/ - The early learning field is complex, dynamic, and critical to the success of children in the United States. As attention to the importance of early learning has grown, a vast and varied array of early childhood indicators have emerged, creating increasing confusion about how to define and measure positive outcomes.

In Markers that Matter: Success Indicators in Early Learning and Education, a new report developed by FSG with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the authors deliver a set of 48 early childhood indicators that reflect healthy development of young children (ages 0-8). The report also identifies 10 emerging themes that are not addressed by existing indicators and merit further inquiry. 

The authors synthesized more than 1,100 existing indicators into a set that reflects a “system” view of early childhood, and includes indicators of children, families, education and care settings, and communities. The indicators and emerging themes also emphasize the critical and growing importance of racial and cultural equity among the country’s increasingly diverse population of young children and families.

Highlighting the value of indicators as a platform for collaboration, the report provides a common language for early childhood stakeholders, researchers, and policy makers who are working to improve the healthy development of young children, fostering coordination and alignment of efforts. The indicators and emerging themes have the potential to transform conversations, planning, service delivery, and long-term outcomes for children and their communities. Follow the conversation on FSG's Strategic Evaluation blog.

Click here to access the full report.

To learn more about strategic evaluation, visit the Strategic Evaluation approach page and blog.

About FSG

FSG is a nonprofit consulting firm specializing in research, strategy, and evaluation, founded in 2000 as Foundation Strategy Group. Today, FSG works across all sectors in every region of the globe – partnering with foundations, corporations, nonprofits, and governments – to develop more effective solutions to the world's most challenging issues. FSG helps organizations, individually and collectively, achieve social impact by discovering better ways to solve social problems. For more information on FSG, visit us online at www.fsg.org