Past Projects and Initiatives

Frontiers of Innovation (2011-2023) 
Frontiers of Innovation (FOI) was the Center’s research and development platform for several years. Designed to accelerate the development and adoption of science-based innovations that achieve breakthrough impact at scale, FOI employed a framework that facilitated idea generation, development, implementation, testing, evaluation, and rapid-cycle iteration. This process was grounded in science and supported by a growing community of change agents committed to shared learning, cumulative knowledge, and transformative child outcomes at the population level.

You can find details on activities, programs, and partners who were a part of FOI and read our insights from FOI. 

IDEAS Impact Framework (2015-2023) 
The Innovate, Develop, Evaluate, Adapt, Scale (IDEAS) Impact Framework grew from our FOI work and was driven by the question, “How can we build better programs that achieve greater outcomes for more young children and their families?” IDEAS—which came from innovating to solve unmet challenges, developing a usable program with a clear and precise theory of change, evaluating the theory of change to determine what works for whom and why, adapting in rapid-cycle iterations, and scaling promising programs—is a rigorous design process for developing, testing, and iterating on programs. For years, the Center and our collaborators ran workshops and provided consultation and technical assistance to project teams applying IDEAS to specific programs. The IDEAS Impact Framework Toolkit is now available to everyone digitally.

Explore the IDEAS Impact Framework and watch a webinar featuring teams that have used it to shape their work. 

Science X Design (2017-2022) 
Science X Design was created to empower service providers in fields like health care, education, and child welfare to use science to identify new opportunities to improve their services. Initially, through in-person facilitated workshops, the Center worked with partners to develop and refine a reflective process that brought together the science of early childhood development, input from frontline staff, and ideas from caregivers to identify opportunities to adapt and strengthen programs in ways that support the healthy development of young children and their caregivers. The Center’s collaboration with the Children’s Home Society of America was pivotal in the evolution of this work. The tools developed have been turned into an open-access, self-paced learning toolkit designed to support improved outcomes for young children and their caregivers.

Launch the Science X Design Toolkit and watch a webinar about it. 

Executive Leadership Program in Early Childhood Development (2011-2023) 
As part of a 13-year, multi-institutional partnership with Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância (NCPI), the Center co-designed and hosted the Executive Leadership Program (ELP) to build the capacity of Brazilian leaders in government and civil society to apply the science of early childhood development to some of their most complex social problems. Cohorts of senior-level Brazilian policymakers have come to Harvard since 2012 for an intensive week of instruction, skill-building, and project development to advance early childhood initiatives and investment in a rapidly growing Latin American nation facing significant socioeconomic inequalities. Alumni of the program have gone on to design new home-visiting programs in some of Brazil’s largest cities and develop a comprehensive national “Legal Framework for Early Childhood.” Starting in 2023, ELP is run by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Insper, in conjunction with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and others, as part of the NCPI collective impact initiative. 

Read more about the 2023 ELP.  

Science and Innovation Fellowship (2007-2022) 
The Science and Innovation Fellowship (at times known as the Richmond Fellowship or the Djokovic Fellowship) supported a new generation of academic leaders aiming to drive innovation in the early childhood field to improve the lives of children facing adversity. Investing over $600,000 in dissertation research and career development, the Fellowship supported 56 doctoral students from multiple disciplines and departments across the University, whose work focused on various topics related to early childhood health, learning, and behavior. The Fellows’ research ranged from school nutrition and early learning to the effects of homelessness, the use of technology to improve child outcomes, and the impacts of violence. The Fellows have gone on to a wide range of academic posts in education, public policy, economics, sociology, and health-related disciplines at prestigious universities around the globe. Others are in research and consulting organizations, state and federal government, international agencies such as UNICEF and the World Bank, nonprofit social services, and technology companies. 

ECD Regional Networks (2021-2023) 
The Center collaborated with four regional early childhood development (ECD) networks (representing Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Arab World) in a series of workshops to strengthen members’ capacity to utilize science-based knowledge in advancing ECD policy development and implementation at regional and country levels. The virtual workshops engaged regional network teams from 19 countries and focused on strategies to effectively communicate the science of ECD, share learning across regions, and advance advocacy efforts. 

StrongStart Early Childhood Support Organization Initiative (2020-2022) 
The Early Childhood Support Organization Initiative is a public-private partnership between the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and New Profit to fund, identify, scale, and evaluate proven models for program quality improvement support with EEC-licensed programs. The project is designed to positively impact an estimated 800 early childhood classrooms over five years. It uses targeted instructional leadership coaching and training services that support capacity building to facilitate professional learning for classroom educators, aligned with the goals of the Massachusetts Quality Rating and Improvement System. EEC and New Profit contracted with the Center to support their application of the IDEAS Impact Framework and to help plan and facilitate rapid-cycle iteration and shared learning experiences at the beginning of the initiative.