Administration for Children and Families
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) serves as principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families on increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of programs designed to improve the economic and social well-being of children and families. In collaboration with ACF program offices and others, OPRE is responsible for ACF performance management; for conducting research and policy analyses; and for developing and overseeing research and evaluation projects to assess program performance and inform policy and practice. OPRE also provides guidance, analysis, technical assistance, and oversight to ACF programs on strategic planning; performance measurement; research and evaluation methods; statistical, policy, and program analysis; and synthesis and dissemination of research and demonstration findings.

A central focus of OPRE’s research and evaluation is developing reliable knowledge of the effectiveness of different programmatic strategies in order to inform programmatic and policy choices, with a particular focus on testing innovative approaches used by states and other organizations in major program areas, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Head Start, child care and child welfare. Moving more families from welfare to work, persistence and progression in employment, marriage and family formation, and the well-being and development of children are major focal areas. OPRE includes the Division of Economic Independence and the Division of Child and Family Development. A cross-cutting Performance Management Team leads ACF-wide efforts to plan, monitor, and improve program performance.

OPRE’s research and evaluation projects are funded primarily through grants and contracts, and include collaboration with ACF program offices, HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and other Federal entities. Examples of current and recent studies are listed below.

• Employment-Related Studies and Demonstrations address a variety of topics including alternative welfare-to-work strategies, employment retention and advancement, and strategies to promote work in rural areas. Major projects in this area include:
• Employment, Retention, and Advancement Evaluation
• Rural Welfare-to-Work Demonstration and Evaluation
• Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation
• Innovative Strategies to Increase Self-Sufficiency

• Strengthening Family Studies examine the effects of interventions to strengthen families and support parental relationships and healthy marriages. Major projects in this area include:
• Building Strong Families
• Supporting Healthy Marriage
• Evaluating the Community Healthy Marriage Initiative

• Head Start Studies include the first nationally representative experimental evaluation of the program, an evaluation of the Early Head Start program, a survey monitoring children’s experiences and outcomes, studies of special populations, and a range of studies of quality improvement efforts. Major projects in this area include:
• Head Start Impact Study
• Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES)
• Early Head Start Evaluation
• Head Start CARES (Classroom-based Approaches and Resources for Emotion and Social skill promotion)

• Child Care Projects investigate the impact of child care subsidy policies and practices on parental employment; factors associated with access to, and choice of, child care; and the effectiveness of quality-enhancing initiatives in improving care giving practices that support children’s developmental outcomes. Major projects in this area include:
• Evaluation of Child Care Subsidy Strategies
• Quality Interventions for Early Care and Education
• Child Care and Early Education Research Connections Project
• Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Policies Database
• Assessing States' Child Care Quality Rating Systems

• Child Welfare Projects investigate the experiences of children and their families who suffer from, or are at risk of, abuse, neglect, and homelessness. Major projects in this area include:
• Evaluation of Independent Living Programs
• National Study of Child and Adolescent Well-Being
• Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect