About us

The RAPID Survey Project, based in the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, is a program of ongoing national and place-based surveys designed to gather essential information on the needs, health promoting behaviors, and well-being of young children and their caregivers. Our objective is to make timely and actionable data on the experiences of parents, caregivers and young children available in an ongoing manner to support parent- and data-informed decision-making.

Housed at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and led by Dr. Philip Fisher, RAPID draws on Stanford’s globally-recognized strength in innovation and collaboration across disciplines. The Stanford Center on Early Childhood is an initiative of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, which seeks to accelerate solutions to the most pressing challenges facing learners.

RAPID surveys are designed to gather essential information continuously regarding the needs, health-promoting behaviors, and well-being of young children and the important adults in their lives. RAPID collects data monthly from parents and child care providers in all 50 states. The samples are large and the surveys are national in scope, however, the data are not technically representative of households with young children in the U.S.

Additionally, the surveys are available in English and Spanish and can be taken on any device with an internet connection, but our samples are limited to those who have access to these resources and who speak English or Spanish. RAPID employs a unique data collection strategy and, as such, the data are a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal. For more information about RAPID study design and methodology, visit this page.