Background For the past two decades, the federal government, states, and communities have encouraged collaborations among child care, Head Start, and prekindergarten (pre-K) with the aim of supporting young children's school readiness while also meeting the child care needs of working parents. According to the National Survey of Early Care and Education, 72% of early care and education centers reported receiving some government funding, whether from local, state, or federal sources. Further analyses revealed that 39% of child care centers reported enrolling children who were participating in Head Start, public pre-K, or both (National Survey of Early Care and Education Project Team, 2015). Thus, a large percentage of child care and early education providers jointly deliver services to young children and their families. At the same time, in recent years, most states have formed early childhood advisory councils and interagency teams to stimulate collaborations among child care, Head Start, and pre-K with the aim of enhancing the quality of services that ultimately translate into improved child outcomes (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). Moreover, through the federal Preschool Development and Expansion Grants and the Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership grant program, early care and education providers have been working together to address differences in standards and services that exist across programs to better meet the needs of young children and their working parents (U.S. Department of Education, 2016; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2017). Published peer-reviewed articles describe the nature of collaborations, and some articles have examined the benefits of collaborations. Gilliam (2008) reported that collaborations among child care, Head Start, and pre-K have the potential to better serve children and families through seamless services. Selden, Sowa, and Sandfort (2006) as well as Schilder and Smith Leavell (2014) studied the characteristics of programs in collaborations and the benefits of collaborations. These authors found that child care and Head Start programs with greater organizational capacity are more likely to engage in collaborations and reported that these collaborations are correlated with improved classroom quality. Whitebook, Ryan, Kipnis, and Sakai (2008) reported that collaborations can lead to improved staff education and professional development opportunities. Moreover, Lim, Schilder, and Chauncey (2007) found that collaborations are predictive of improvements in comprehensive services for parents. In addition to the peer-reviewed research, many technical and evaluation reports have been released in recent years on the topic of early care and education collaboration (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Early Childhood Development, 2016; Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, 2010). Yet existing peer-reviewed research articles and conceptual frameworks do not adequately reflect the field's u...
