Good Start, Grow Smart

The Good Start, Grow Smart early childhood initiative was started in 2002 to help states and local communities strengthen early learning for young children. The goal of GSGS is to ensure that children enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed by partnering with states to improve early childhood education; strengthening Head Start (HS); and providing research-based information to teachers, caregivers, and parents.

The Good Start, Grow Smart (GSGS) Interagency Workgroup, convened by the Child Care Bureau, brings together representatives from nine divisions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that support research in early childhood education.

From HHS, these include:

• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE),
• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD),
• Office of Planning Research and Evaluation (OPRE),
• Child Care Bureau (CCB), and
• Head Start Bureau (HSB).

From ED, these include:

• Institute of Education Sciences (IES),
• Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP),
• Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), and
• National Institute for Literacy (NIFL).

A Guide to Good Start, Grow Smart and Other Federal Early Learning Initiatives (PDF: 276kb) from the GSGS Interagency Workgroup highlights current research in early care and education supported by HHS and ED.