Measurement frameworks bring a theory of change to life by defining how to clearly measure a model or program’s impact on the intended beneficiaries and how that impact changes with time. Measurement frameworks can also be used to demonstrate continuous improvement, illustrate return on investment, and strengthen sustainability and scale.
In 2025, the Help Me Grow (HMG) National Center sought support from Child Trends to inform a measurement strategy that illustrates the impact of HMG. HMG promotes a model that comprehensively coordinates existing programs, resources, and supports across different sectors within state and community early childhood systems. The ultimate goal of HMG is to ensure that local and state systems can connect all young children and families to the resources and supports they need to improve children’s development. The proposed HMG Measurement Framework aims to provide a structure that:
- Aligns with HMG’s theory of change
- Clarifies HMG’s unique and collective impact
- Strengthens consistent measurement and messaging across systems
To facilitate these goals, HMG partnered with Child Trends to conduct three activities:
- A review of more than 50 key HMG artifacts and pieces of literature that describe current and potential systems and measurement (see “Sample of reviewed documents” list below)
- Interviews and focus groups with key internal and external stakeholders, including past and current HMG leaders, representatives of the HMG Affiliate Advisory Board, HMG data and research experts, and external systems change measurement leaders
- Development of an updated Theory of Change to guide the measurement approach, as well as a new Measurement Framework with metrics, measures, and data sources
Guided by our deep expertise in systems change, early childhood measurement, and measurement framework development, Child Trends:
- Provided specific recommendations to update and enhance HMG’s Theory of Change to reflect priorities of the HMG National Center, the National Affiliate Network, and the HMG Model
- Developed a Measurement Framework to provide information that validates and improves HMG’s scaling strategies at the child/family, community, and population levels, including metrics and their associated measurements and data sources that inform each element in HMG’s Theory of Change
Key recommendations and future directions
Child Trends developed a proposed Theory of Change and Measurement Framework alongside the following recommendations:
- Deepen the network’s ability to capture systems-building metrics to further underscore HMG as a model for systems change.
- Set ambitious but measurable long-term goals for impacts on children (Healthy and Ready to Learn), families (resilience and protective factors), communities (return on investment), and systems (sustainability).
- Maximize the available data in HMG’s Fidelity Assessment to capture impact.
- Make use of other available assessments to gather critical data on developmental promotion, developmental monitoring, and how systems use data to make decisions.
- Improve data quality through technical assistance, quality control oversight, and clearer definitions of core concepts.
- Build complementary evidence for an impact portfolio to further explicate how HMG demonstrates impacts for children, families, and communities, particularly over the long-term.
Sample of reviewed documents
- Many HMG documents are available on the HMG National Website or the HMG System Model page, including background information, affiliate resources, working theories of change and logic models, fidelity assessment, and return on investment (ROI) tools.
- Administration for Community Living Office of Performance and Evaluation: Measuring Systems Change: A Brief Guide
- The Bridgespan Group: Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning: A Guide for Field Catalysts
- Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) Early Childhood Learning and Innovation Network for Communities (EC-LINC): Early Childhood System Performance Assessment Toolkit
- Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP): Protective Factors Framework
- Child Trends: STEP Forward with Data Framework
- Child Trends: Using Systems-level Approaches to Transform Early Childhood Systems
- Mathematica and Equal Measure: Crosswalk of Frameworks for Understanding Systems Change
- National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers: Prenatal-to-Three Outcomes Framework Data Guidebook
- National Early Care and Education Workforce Center: Introduction to the ECE Workforce Systems Change Framework
- Zero to Three: Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems (ECDHS): Evidence to Impact Center
Key staff
- Katie Paschall, principal investigator
- Van-Kim Lin, senior advisor
- Catherine Schaefer, project support