Giving all American children an equal opportunity to start kindergarten ready to learn and succeed is a complex and pressing issue. Addressing this complexity requires the support of accessible and coordinated early childhood service systems. The current study explored the role of multi-sector service provider collaboratives in making the goal of school readiness for all a reality. Specifically, the influence of relational capacity on collaborative effectiveness at building more coordinated, accessible systems and the mediating role of interorganizational exchanges. Longitudinal evaluation data spanning from 2010 to 2012 was collected from 54 early childhood collaboratives in Michigan to assess these connections. The results did not support a relationship between relational capacity and collaborative effectiveness, nor did they display a mediating effect of exchanges. Although the initial hypotheses were not supported, post-hoc analyses revealed that shifts in relational capacity from 2010 to 2012 were in fact predictive of collaborative effectiveness. These findings emphasize the importance of capacity building and changes in capacity as opposed to simply focusing on arbitrary levels at any given point-in-time. Implications and future directions for emphasizing the roles of change and capacity building in understanding effective early childhood collaboratives are discussed.
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