Overview

The Shared Services approach in early care and education (ECE) is a paradigm shift, challenging the widely held assumption that ECE businesses work best as small individual businesses operating independently. ECE Alliances can take many forms, but have the following in common:

• Reduced or shared costs and time, through joint purchasing, staff sharing, centralized administration, or some combination of these
• Shared capacity-building in program and/or administration through use of common tools and systems, shared mentoring and supervision, and/or collaborative improvement processes
• Cost and time savings reinvested into enhanced program quality

Shared Service Alliances in the ECE industry exist in locations across the country, and many more are emerging. Through research and lessons gleaned from existing Alliances, we have built a large and growing knowledge base of effective Shared Services practices. Our annual Shared Services Technical Conference brings together existing and emerging Alliances from around the country, as well as policy makers and funders, to deepen the Shared Services knowledge base and facilitate Alliance development.

General information about Shared Services can be found in the resources below. For more detailed planning and implementation tools, see Resources – Tools and Information. For a more robust collection of resources, search our Library.

Multi-Media

Building Quality through Shared Services – a multi-media learning tool featuring Sound Child Care Solutions in Seattle, WA

The Children’s Home Model

Early Care and Education Market Challenges

Seacoast Early Learning Alliance

Shared Services Articles, Blogs, and Presentations

Shared Services: Supporting Quality in Early Care and Education – Shared Services handout summary

The Iron Triangle: A Simple Formula for Financial Policy in ECE Programs, by Louise Stoney and Anne Mitchell

Innovative Business Model Advances Quality Child Care – William Penn Foundation newsletter, January 2012

Delivering Quality: Strengthening the Business Side of Early Care and Education, by Louise Stoney and Susan Blank, September 2011

Cost, Quality and Shared Services - Anne Mitchell, 2010 Shared Services Technical Conference

Building Systemic Capacity for High Quality ECE - blog by Louise Stoney, originally posted at Education Week on Sara Mead’s Policy Notebook, April 2012

Partner Websites

Early Learning Ventures

Alliance for Early Childhood Finance

ECESharedResources