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##  Child Care Quality: An Overview for Parents. ERIC Digest.                    

The percentage of working mothers using center-based care for their             preschoolers grew from 13% to 29% from 1977 to 1994, according to               the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1998). Along with the increasing use             of child care have come questions about how children's development              is affected by the quality of child care services available to                  parents. Defining high-quality child care is difficult; however,                there is general agreement that the development of children should              be enhanced rather than put at risk by their out-of-home care                   experiences. This Digest discusses child care research that                     addresses parents' questions about quality. HOW DO RESEARCHERS                ASSESS THE QUALITY OF CHILD CARE?Researchers generally examine a            variety of child care characteristics, such as structural and                   process features, and the relationship of these characteristics to              effects on children. 
Structural and process features. 
Structural            features include child-adult ratio, the qualifications of                       caregivers, and wages paid to caregivers/teachers (Whitebook et al.,            1989; National Institute of Child Health and Human                              Development [NICHD], 1998; Cryer, 1999, p. 41). Process                         features--practices that affect how children experience child                   care--include the responsiveness of the caregiver, individualization            of care, and the use of language in the classroom (Love, 1997; Love             et al., 1996; Cryer, 1999; Helburn & Howes, 1996). The common                   element of these practices and conditions is their ability to                   contribute to certain desirable outcomes in children, including                 language acquisition and cognitive development, self-control,                   sociability, creativity, the ability to engage in cooperative play,             and the ability to solve social conflicts (Love, 1997). Researchers             compare the effects, if any, that programs employing varying                    conditions and practices have on the children attending                         them. 
Correlation and causation. 
To what extent are good                    developmental outcomes the result of the child care environment, and            to what extent are they the product of other factors? To answer                 these questions, researchers try to isolate specific conditions or              practices within a child care setting, and then confirm that those              factors are actually correlated with certain positive or negative               effects. But a correlation only shows that a change in one feature              predicts a change; it does not show what has caused that change. To             show effects requires difficult and expensive controlled                        experimental studies that raise many practical and ethical                      issues. DOES RESEARCH SHOW THAT QUALITY HAS IMPORTANT                         EFFECTS?Evidence suggests some modest relationships between                 particular practices and conditions and better outcomes for                     children (Frede, 1995; NICHD, 1998). Few studies can state                      unequivocally that high quality causes positive effects. Generally,             researchers suggest that other factors combine with child care                  quality to produce long-term effects on children, and that some                 other factors are stronger predictors of outcomes than is child care            quality (NICHD, 1998). 
For instance, findings in the NICHD study              offered mixed support for the view that high-quality child care                 predicts positive outcomes. On the one hand, children attending                 child care centers that met American Public Health                              Association/American Academy of Pediatrics (APHA/AAP)                           standards (which are more stringent than accreditation standards)               had greater school readiness, higher language test scores, and fewer            behavioral problems than their peers in other centers. Child care               quality also had a consistent positive correlation with children's              cognitive and language development. However, the correlation was                higher for a combination of family factors that included family                 income and maternal vocabulary (used in studies as a substitute for             maternal intelligence). In fact, a combination of family factors was            actually more closely correlated with developmental outcomes like               behavior, compliance, and self-control than was child care                      quality (NICHD, 1998). This correlation suggests that families with             certain characteristics tend to choose high-quality care and that               positive outcomes may stem more from those characteristics than from            high-quality care. 
High quality is not the chief cause or                     predictor of positive outcomes, nor is low quality the chief cause              or predictor of negative outcomes. Nonetheless, findings from the               NICHD (1998) and the Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes in Child Care             Centers (1995) studies indicate that high-quality care may offset               risk factors for some negative outcomes. There is stronger evidence             from longitudinal experimental studies to suggest that high-quality             preschool has substantial, long- lasting, positive effects on the               development of children from families living in poverty (Burchinal,             1999). The Abecedarian Project followed a group of 104 infants from             low-income families, half of whom received high-quality, educational            child care beginning in early infancy and half of whom did not.                 Those who had received high-quality child care had higher reading,              math, and mental test scores from toddlerhood through age 21, and               were more likely to be in school at age 21, than those in the                   non-treated group (Carolina Abecedarian Project, 1999, pp. 1-3). The            High/Scope Perry Preschool study (Schweinhart et al., 1993) also                compared individuals who had been part of a high-quality preschool              in the 1960s with those who had not. Researchers documented a                   greater likelihood of responsible behaviors--including fewer                    arrests--and higher IQs, education levels, incomes, rates of home               ownership, and rates of marriage among participants as compared with            non-participants, even after 27 years. WHAT IS THE QUALITY OF                 CHILD CARE IN THE UNITED STATES?High-quality child care is in               short supply. Love et al.'s (1996) review of the research on child              care quality found that the quality of experience in child care                 centers and in family child care homes in the United States is                  generally mediocre. The following major studies seem to substantiate            Love's findings: 
*  The National Institute of Child Health and                Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care found that most             child care centers did not meet APHA/AAP standards (NICHD,                      1998). 
*  The Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes in Child Care                  Centers (CQO) study, a study of center-based care in four states,               found that 86% provided mediocre or poor- quality care. Infant and              toddler care was particularly poor with fully 40% rated as low                  quality (Helburn & Howes, 1996, pp. 66-68). 
*  Only 9% of family              child care homes in three states in the Study of Children in Family             Child Care and Relative Care (Galinsky et al., 1994) were                       rated "good" quality, 56% of the homes were "adequate/custodial,"               and 35% of the homes in the study were rated "inadequate." WHAT               SHOULD PARENTS CONSIDER IN CHOOSING CHILD CARE?Research has                 shown that as many as 65% of parents believe they have little choice            among child care options (Galinsky et al., 1994). How can parents               make the best choices among the available options? Firsthand                    observation is a good start, and child care resource and referral               agencies (CCR&Rs) can assist parents in knowing what to look for in             care arrangements, including: 
*  Process features: how staff                  respond to children, the way teachers talk with children, how staff             approach discipline, and appropriateness of learning activities 
*             Structural features: group size, child-adult ratio, level of staff              education/training, staff turnover rate, quality/quantity of space,             and quality/quantity of materials 
Since available evidence seems              to suggest that family factors are at least as important as child               care quality factors in how children develop, it is also important              to consider other questions, such as: 
*  How do family members                feel about using child care? 
*  How well do potential child care              providers communicate with parents? 
*  How do parents' job                    conditions affect their use or choice of child care? 
CCR&Rs often             have resources on ways to maintain good relationships with child                care programs and on how to talk to employers about implementing                family-supportive benefits. Child Care Aware can help parents locate            their local CCR&R agency (Web: http://childcareaware.net/;                      telephone: 1-800-424-2246). FOR MORE INFORMATIONBurchinal, M.             R. (1999). Child care experiences and developmental outcomes. In                Suzanne W. Helburn (Ed.), The silent crisis in U.S. child                       care [Special issue]. ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL               AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, 563, 73-97. 
Carolina Abecedarian                          Project. (1999). EARLY LEARNING, LATER SUCCESS: THE ABECEDARIAN                 STUDY. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY [Online]. Available:                                   http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~abc/ 
Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes                 Study Team (CQO). (1995). COST, QUALITY AND CHILD OUTCOMES IN CHILD             CARE CENTERS PUBLIC REPORT. Denver: Economics Department, University            of Colorado-Denver. ED 386 297. 
Cryer, D. (1999). Defining and                assessing early childhood program quality. In Suzanne Helburn (Ed.),            The silent crisis in U.S. child care [Special issue]. ANNALS OF THE             AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, 563,                          39-55. 
Frede, E. (1995). The role of program quality in producing             early childhood program benefits. FUTURE OF CHILDREN, 5(3), 115-132.            EJ 523 966. 
Galinsky, E., Howes, C., Kontos, S., & Shinn, M.                  B. (1994). The study of children in family child care and relative              care-- Key findings and policy recommendations. YOUNG CHILDREN,                 50(1), 58-61. EJ 493 657. 
Helburn, S. W., & Howes, C. (1996).                 Child care cost and quality. FUTURE OF CHILDREN, 6(2), 62-82. EJ 537            047. 
Love, J. M. (1997). Quality in child care centers. EARLY                 CHILDHOOD RESEARCH AND POLICY BRIEFS, 1(1). ED 417 827. 
Love, J.              M., Schochet, P. Z., & Meckstroth, A. L. (1996). ARE THEY IN ANY                REAL DANGER? WHAT RESEARCH DOES--AND DOESN'T--TELL US ABOUT CHILD               CARE QUALITY AND CHILDREN'S WELL-BEING. Plainsboro, NJ: Mathematica             Policy Research. ED 415 030. 
National Institute of Child Health               and Human Development Early Child Care Research                                 Network (NICHD). (1998). THE NICHD STUDY OF EARLY CHILD                         CARE [Online]. Available:                                                       http: //www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/early_child_care.htm                
Schweinhart, L. J., Barnes, H. V., & Weikart, D. P. (1993).                   SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS: THE HIGH/SCOPE PERRY PRESCHOOL STUDY THROUGH              AGE 27. (Monographs of the High/Scope Educational Research                      Foundation, 10). Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press. ED 366                        433. 
Stifter, C. A., Coulehan, C. M., & Fish, M. (1993). Linking              employment to attachment: The mediating effects of maternal                     separation anxiety and interactive behavior. CHILD DEVELOPMENT,                 64(5), 1451-1460. EJ 471 361. 
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1998).              Historical time-series tables. Primary child care arrangements used             for preschoolers by families with employed mothers: Selected years,             1977 to 1994 [Online]. Available:                                               http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/child/p70-62/tableA.txt                
Whitebook, M., Howes, C., & Phillips, D. (1989). WHO CARES? CHILD             CARE TEACHERS AND THE QUALITY OF CARE IN AMERICA: FINAL REPORT.                 NATIONAL CHILD CARE STAFFING STUDY. Berkeley, CA: Child Care                    Employee Project. ED 323 031. 
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This project has been funded at least in                part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education,                  Office of Educational Research and Improvement, under contract no.              ED-99-CO-0020. The content of this publication does not necessarily             reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education,              nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or                        organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.                      **Title:** Child Care Quality: An Overview for Parents. ERIC Digest.                    **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Target Audience:** Parents                                                                      **Available From:** For full text: http://ericece.org.                                           **Descriptors:** Academic Achievement,  Day Care Effects, Early Childhood Education,             Family Environment, Literature Reviews, Parent Influence, Parent                Role,  Young Children                                                        **Identifiers:** American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association,             Child Care Resource Centers,  Day Care Quality, Day Care Selection,             ERIC Digests, National Institute Child Health Human Development,                 Quality Indicators, Research Synthesis                                      
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