Midwest Early Childhood Education Research Alliance (MECERA) (Historical)

The earliest years of a child’s life are a crucial period of development, with the brain forming more than 1 million new neural connections per second. Healthy environments and rich experiences during the early years provide a strong start and can have a lasting impact on an individual’s achievement, health, and even earnings. Investing in young children’s social-emotional development promotes long-term success, leading to higher self-esteem, increased motivation, and better relationships with peers—making this a high-leverage topic for education stakeholders across the Midwest region.

The REL Midwest Early Childhood Education Research Alliance (MECERA) brought together multiagency early childhood practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to increase the region’s capacity to access, conduct, interpret, and make sense of early childhood education research and to support the use of this research in decisionmaking at the state and local levels. MECERA’s primary focus was early childhood education in Illinois. In addition, a community of practice connected key stakeholders across the region and was an active partner in the research process.

Illinois has received several federal grants to expand access to early childhood education. Additionally, the Illinois State Board of Education implemented a new kindergarten entry assessment and is committed to using the data to identify gaps in school readiness and to align the early childhood and K–12 systems more strategically.