National Institute for Early Education Research

Founded in 2002, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) supports excellence and equity in early childhood education by conducting and disseminating nonpartisan research and policy analysis. The institute’s signature product is an annual report, now in its 11th year of publication, on the state of preschool in the United States. The State of Preschool Yearbook is based on a survey of all state-funded pre-K programs (currently operated by 41 states and the District of Columbia) that tracks state policies including eligibility and enrollment, operating schedules, program standards, personnel, monitoring and evaluation, and funding. In addition, the institute seeks to conduct field studies that use the most rigorous possible methods in order to produce research that can yield clearly interpretable findings. NIEER conducts evaluations ...