Children thrive when families, educators, and school leaders share a vision for early learning success, but that alignment takes purposeful work. 

Children’s earliest learning experiences—at home and in school—have lifelong consequences. But in many communities, fragmented support and limited alignment between families, educators, and administrators can undermine children’s development. In 2022, Viewing Our Children as Emerging Leaders (VOCEL), a nonprofit that supports early learning, launched the All In For Kids initiative in six Chicago schools to build a connected ecosystem of support for young learners, targeting three levels of influence: parents, early educators, and school leaders. Each of these groups receives targeted and tailored professional development and coaching around play-based learning and its relationship to healthy and positive child development. Through this layered approach, VOCEL seeks to advance developmentally appropriate practices, enhance communication and collaboration, and promote more positive outcomes for all students. This ambitious and novel two-year pilot program required a rigorous and culturally-responsive evaluation of implementation and impact. 

NORC is conducting a developmental, mixed-methods evaluation of VOCEL’s All In For Kids initiative, which seeks to foster that alignment. 

NORC’s Early Childhood Research and Practice Collaborative is partnering with VOCEL to evaluate All In For Kids, a two-year pilot layering three complementary programs in six Chicago elementary schools. Our evaluation includes formative and developmental components designed to support continuous improvement and capture shifts in parent, teacher, and school leader beliefs and practices in response to their participation in VOCEL’s tiered supports.

First, we co-developed an evaluation plan with VOCEL staff by aligning our study design with their theory of change, reviewing program materials, and establishing shared measurement goals. Next, NORC developed survey and focus group instruments that aligned with VOCEL’s program and evaluation goals. We then collected and analyzed baseline, midpoint, and endpoint data through a series of surveys, interviews, and focus groups. These efforts assessed implementation fidelity and tracked shifts in knowledge, engagement, and alignment around developmentally appropriate early learning practices and beliefs.

Our team brings deep expertise in early childhood development, family-school partnerships, and education systems change, along with extensive experience conducting place-based evaluations in Chicago. We also bring methodological flexibility to adapt to on-the-ground realities, including evolving program delivery across school years.