Child Care: What Do We Know?
by Helen Raikes Executive Policy Fellow, Research, Demonstration & Evaluation Branch, ACYF
Head Start programs thinking about increased collaborations with child care in their communities may find a large body of child care research literature helpful. Over the past decade, a large number of studies have converged in providing
some basic understanding about child care and preferred child care arrangements. Highlights of that research base are as follows:
- Quality child care has been identified as that having features that are associated with positive development in young children.
Studies have linked regulatable features, such as low child-to-teacher ratios, small group sizes, teacher training, and staff wages, to better child outcomes.
Studies also show that warm and responsive teacher interactions are associated with positive child outcomes. Child outcomes associated with quality child care
include language, cognitive, and social development.
- Infants also benefit from quality. Studies of infant care show that babies in child care who have more involved caregivers who form secure attachments
with them and who provide rich language environments are developing better than babies who don't have these forms of quality care. Features that increase
infant-caregiver attachment include similarity of language between the caregiver and the child, and the opportunity for children and teachers to stay
together over time.
- Quality care can be found in either center or home settings. Studies of centers how that about 25percent of the care that preschoolers receive is of high
quality, but only about 10 percent of infant/toddler care has been rated as high quality. Studies in homes show that about 10 percent of the care
is of the type that is highly supportive to the development of young children.
- Studies show that poor quality care has a particularly negative effect on the development of low-income children. Low-income children have less
access to center-based care than middle-income children, unless they have a subsidy. Working poor children receive the lowest quality care in this
country, probably because high quality care, and working poor families may not have access to subsidized care. head Start staff should be
aware that many families are forced into poor quality care when they lose their subsidy payments; their income has increased, but not enough to offset
the cost of quality child care.
Research at the Head Start-Child Care Intersection
A very new literature is emerging that focuses on Head Start and child care combinations. Although this research is very new, there are already some
early findings. Head Start staff will be happy to learn that Head Start-child care combinations can be high quality liaisons that benefit both Head
Start and child care. Most importantly, these partnerships meet families' child care needs while providing high quality Head Stat services in accordance
with the Program Performance Standards. We know:
- When Head Start is delivered in quality family child care settings, the children experience the benefits of positive development,
as they do in a center-based Head Start setting (See article 15)
- When Head Start services and funds were added to child care, the quality of the overall program rose.
- Several communities have demonstrated that they can successfully link Head Start to existing child care services in large scale programs.
Successful programs have been implemented in Kansas City and New York, among others.
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