The Walton Family Foundation has awarded a new grant to the College of Education and Health Professions' Office for Education Policy to enhance its research into early childhood education in Arkansas.

The new three-year grant totaling over $400,000 will allow the Office for Education Policy to expand its early childhood education work by supporting data collection and research in four main areas: finance, labor force, quality measures and evaluation of programs and policies.

The office already has several projects in the works that will leverage this new funding support. These include an assessment of early childhood revenues and expenditures, developing early childhood awards and recognitions, and partnering with groups like Early Care and Education Projects to evaluate the outcomes of early childhood policies and programs.

"High-quality early childhood education can provide a strong starting point for students' K-12 learning experience," said OEP Executive Director Sarah McKenzie. "By gaining a thorough understanding of early childhood education in Arkansas, we can create a roadmap for future policies and promote student success."

In collaboration with the Arkansas Department of Education, the office's data efforts will center around improving the amount and quality of data collected about the childhood education ecosystem and creating a link to the state's K-12 data. Overall, the goal will be to move Arkansas "toward having a best-in-class cradle-to-career data system that can be seamlessly leveraged to deliver actionable insights."

Founded in 2003, the Office for Education Policy is a research unit of the College of Education and Health Professions' Department of Education Reform and has served as a key resource for the state's education stakeholders for over 20 years. The office bridges the gap between research and practice, using data and evidence to improve pre-K-20 education in Arkansas. 

The Office for Education Policy is led by McKenzie and Josh McGee, associate director. McKenzie and McGee are professors in the Department of Education Reform and specialize in education policy and research at the state and national levels.

McKenzie holds a Ph.D. in educational statistics and research methods, serves as a subject matter expert for the U.S. Department of Education and is a certified teacher with experience teaching students from pre-K to the university level. 

McGee holds a Ph.D. in economics. He previously served as chief data officer for the State of Arkansas and has extensive experience working in leadership roles in education, government, nonprofits and philanthropy. In August 2024, he will become the Department of Education Reform's Endowed Chair in Education Accountability and Transparency.

Visit the Office for Education Policy website for more information on education research projects, data sets and more.