Measuring and improving quality is one of the main challenges facing the field. A comprehensive quality assessment program in Iowa is beginning to uncover lessons about measurement and whether quality can drive policy and funding decisions. This Forum for Youth Investment Ready by 21 profile takes a look at the early results.

One of the most pressing needs of special-needs children is to be treated like children. Tessa's Place in Bettendorf, Iowa meets that need for many. Lee Nelson reports on how a family's loss turned into a huge gain for disabled children in the area.

Money, access and training are some of the factors in the "Digital Divide"—the wedge between those who get the benefits of technology and those who don't. Teenager Angie Groh recognized a growing gap in her community and bridged the generations by helping teens teach seniors computer skills.

The Child and Family Policy Center was established in 1989 by former Iowa Legislator Dr. Charles Bruner to better link research and policy on issues vital to children and families, and to advocate for outcome-based policies to improve child well-being. The Center was founded by Tanager Place, a charitable organization in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

60 policymakers and numerous low-income constituents in Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington, and West Virginia are spending a month together "walking a mile" in each other's shoes to learn from one another about poverty, public policies and politics. It's part of the national Walk a Mile (WAM) project based in Seattle. Among the object lessons: policymakers will try to feed their family on the amount of money they would receive in food stamps for their family size.

Although targeting the youngest learners (at ages when the brain develops rapidly) pays off, most education money goes to older children. A report from the Child and Family Policy Center of Iowa and Voices for America's Children finds 13.7 cents of every per-child public education dollar goes to younger kids. Congress is debating a $1.2 billion increase in the Child Care and Development Block Grant's annual appropriation, a move that would increase investments in early learning by $34.57 per young child in America. A $400 million increase in Head Start funding would translate to a $17.29 increase in per young child funding.

One out of every five U.S. students is a recent immigrant or born to parents who are immigrants. The Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University describes in-depth how four very different schools -- in Greenbay, Wisconsin, Leadville, Colorado, Stamford, Connecticut and Columbus Junction, Iowa -- are changing their strategies and programs to meet their students' needs.