Schoenbaum Family Center and Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy

Ohio State’s Sophie A. Rogers School for Early Learning and the Schoenbaum Family Center serve families in the high-need neighborhood of Weinland Park in Columbus, Ohio.  These facilities represent a learning laboratory for our students and faculty as well as model demonstration site for the delivery of evidence-based educational services and comprehensive supportive programming aimed at preparing the youngest members of our community for a lifetime of learning and success.

Sustained through a mixed-income model, inclusive of philanthropic investment, over 100 children and their families receive an array of educational and supportive services each year. These include full-time child care (ages 6 weeks to five years); mental-health programming; nutritional resources; parenting programs; physical education programs; speech-language services; and crisis support services. Through SPARK, a family-focused, home-visiting program, parents receive direct coaching to support their children's early learning in the home environment. An intensive Kindergarten Readiness Summer Camp experience is also offered to families who did not place their children in preschool or pre-kindergarten learning environments. 

The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy is a multidisciplinary research center dedicated to improving children’s learning and development at home, in school, and in the community.  Researchers within the Crane Center actively work with schools across Ohio to conduct research, provide training and support to teachers, and to transform practices to the benefit of early learners and their families.  Researchers and staff work closely with school administrators and policymakers across Ohio, and nationally, to bridge research-practice-policy gaps. 

There are countless opportunities to invest in early childhood programming and research at Ohio State.  We can help connect you directly to transformative programming that impacts the lives of young learners and their families or to researchers whose efforts are equipping practitioners and policy-makers with actionable evidence to influence change within schools and at the systems level.