Long-Term

Consequences

of Child Care

Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Spring Volume 4, No. 1
Vol.4, No. 1

Early Developments is published three times a year

by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center

at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Website:http://www.unc.edu

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Loyd Little

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With this issue, we welcome Turner McCollum as our new

graphic designer for Early Developments. Turner has

taken over the responsibility from Miki Kersgard who has

joined another department at UNC-Chapel Hill. We hope

that you will enjoy the new look to the magazine.

We want to salute Miki for her work in doing the layout and

design for the magazine previously and wish her well in her

new position.

The cover for this issue is from a child enrolled in the

Frank Porter Graham Child Care Center.

Typefaces used in the publication are: Arial Black, Arial

Narrow, Gil Sans, Garamond (body text) and Nueva.

Early Developments is funded in part by the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and in part

by PR/Award Number R307A60004, administered by

the Office of Educational Research and Improvement,

National Institute on Early Childhood Development and

Education, U.S. Department of Education. Contents of

articles do not necessarily represent the positions of the

U.S. Department of Education. Endorsement by the

federal government should not be assumed.

8500 copies printed at a cost of $0.77 copy.
Long-Term Consequences of Child Care

“Benefits of Quality Care

Persist into Adulthood”

“Mom’s Depression Can

Affect Children’s Learning”

“More Children Attending

PreK in Public Schools”

“Child-Teacher Relationship

Predicts Social Relations”

Headlines such as the above this year reflect the exciting research that is giving

us more insight into child care and child development. For example, new studies

by the Frank Porter Graham Center and the National Center for Early Development

& Learning, both based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reinforce

the growing public awareness that programs for helping children should start

much earlier than they typically do.

In this issue, we look at the dramatic results of the Abecedarian Project FollowUp, which shows that the positive effects of educational child care on poor

children, which was given almost from birth to kindergarten, persist until at least

age 21. This article starts on page two.

Our research continues to show that child care programs must be of high

quality. Such programs need to stimulate children, provide for more teacher

training and compensation, offer comprehensive learning curricula, and encourage

staff to work more closely with families.

We are learning more about the importance of relationships for very young

children. An article on page ten reports that at age three, children whose mothers

are chronically depressed fare significantly worse on tests and other measures

of school readiness, verbal comprehension and language skills than children

of mothers who are never depressed. Another article, which begins on page 12,

looks at the importance of child teacher relationships.

But there is still much to be done. What is the best way to implement the things

we are learning? What should governing agencies do in the way of standards?

How should we finance early childhood programs? In an article on pages 14-16,

we take a look at some of the more innovative early childhood programs around

the country.

from the Director’s Office

earlydevelopments 1 spring 2000

Don Bailey

DonTrull

Contents

From the Director 1

Abecedarian Project 2

Moussorgsky 4

FPG Recent Publications 9

Depression 10

Relationships,

Child & Teacher 12

NCEDL NEWS

Georgia Conference 14

Nearly 1,000,000 served 17

(inside back cover)
Abecedarian Project

Age 21

Follow-Up

decades ago, researchers said. It is believed to

be the first study that definitively links high

quality infant/preschool child care with

positive outcomes in the children as adults.

Data also showed that more than twice as

many children who received the intervention

attended college than those who did not.

Furthermore, young adults in the intervention group were two years older, on average,

when their own first child was born than

those who didn’t receive intervention.

“These data are significant,” said

Craig Ramey of the University of Alabama,

director of the early intervention study, “not

only for parents, but for policymakers seeking

to make a difference in children from lowincome families and for directors and

administrators of child care programs.”

 “The degree of scientific control in this

study gives us greater confidence that differences between the treated and untreated

individuals can be attributed to the intervention itself, rather than to differences among

treated and untreated families,” said Campbell.

The Abecedarian project differed from most

other childhood intervention projects in that

1) it began in early infancy whereas other

programs began at age two or older, and

2) treated children had five years of exposure to early education in a high quality

child care setting whereas most other

programs were of shorter duration.

The project began with 111 infants from

low-income families. Of those, 57 were

randomly assigned to a high-quality child

care setting and 54 to a non-treated group.

The latest assessment of the children, who

are now 21 years old and older, covered 104

of the original group.

Gains from high quality child care

persist into adulthood — landmark study

Poor children who received early

educational intervention had higher

scores on mental, reading, and math

tests than children who didn’t receive

the intervention and, more importantly, these effects persisted until at

least age 21, according to researchers

at the Frank Porter Graham Child

Development Center at the University

of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Our study provides scientific evidence

that early childhood education significantly

improves the scholastic success and educational achievements of poor children even

into early adulthood. The importance of high

quality, educational child care from early

infancy is now clear,” said Frances Campbell,

principal investigator of the Abecedarian

Project Age 21 Follow-Up.

It is one of the longest running and most

carefully controlled studies of it’s type in

America, having begun more than two

earlydevelopments 2 spring 2000

DonTrull
Highlights of the study

• Young adults who received early educational intervention had significantly higher mental test scores from

toddlerhood through age 21 than those who

were untreated.

• Enhanced language skills in the children probably

increased the effects of early intervention on cognitive

skills performance.

• Reading achievement scores were consistently higher for

individuals with early intervention. The differences

between the groups remained large from primary school

through age 21. Enhanced cognitive skills appeared to

positively affect reading achievement.

• Mathematics achievement showed a pattern similar to

reading, with treated individuals earning higher scores.

The differences were medium in contrast to the large

effects for reading. Again, enhanced cognitive functioning appeared to positively affect results.

• Those with treatment were significantly more likely still

to be in school at age 21–40% of the intervention group

as compared with 20% of the control group.

• A significant difference was also found for the percentage of young adults who ever attended a four-year

college. About 35% of the young adults in the intervention group had either graduated from or were at the

time of the assessment attending a four-year college or

university. In contrast, only about 14% in the control

group had done so.

• Young adults in the intervention group were, on

average, two years older (19 years) when their first child

was born compared with those in the control group (17

years), although the youngest individuals in both groups

were comparable in age when the first child was born.

• Employment rates were higher (65%) for the treatment

group than for the control group (50%), although the

trend was not statistically significant.

For more information, search for

Carolina Abecedarian Project at <www.fpg.unc.edu>.

Joseph Sparling, who helped design the

early childhood curriculum, said that each

child had an individualized program of

educational activities consisting of game-like

interactions that were incorporated into the

child’s day. “These activities were designed to

enhance social, emotional, and cognitive

development, but gave particular emphasis

to language,” he said.

Over the years, Ramey said, children

in the intervention group scored

significantly higher on cognitive

tests than children in the control group.

Through middle adolescence, the differences

between the groups remained large for

reading and large-to-moderate

for math.

Campbell said, “Welfare reform has

increased the likelihood that children in

poverty will need early child care.

The educational stimulus value of these

early caregiving years must not be wasted.

More and more of America’s children will

need out of home care. This is especially

true for poor children. We must not lose

this opportunity to provide them the early

learning experiences that will increase their

chances for later success.”

Researchers have placed the executive

summary of the study and other information

on the web site <www.fpg.unc.edu/~abc>.

It is believed to be the first study that definitively

links high quality infant/preschool child care with

positive outcomes in the children as adults.

earlydevelopments 3 spring 2000
R e m e m b e r i n g h o w w e b e g a n . . .

Hal Robinson, 1966 CourierJournal&LouisvilleTimes•BillyDavis
The playing of Beethoven on Beth’s first

day was not only for dad. One way to help

children at risk, so Hal theorized, was to

stimulate them visually and aurally.

“I remember going to violin class.

I learned how to play ‘Humpty Dumpty’

and the teacher, a woman I think, laughed a

lot. I liked it,” said Beth, now a geophysicist

working in US Office of Management and

Budget. “I remember being outside with my

dad and mom in the morning, and I tried

both of their coffees. I liked dad’s a lot better

(he took milk and sugar) than mom’s (black.)”

“It was exciting. There was a sense of

starting a project, a sense of doing something

unique. We all had a sense of mission,” said

Joe Sparling who in the spring of 1967 joined

the team that now included Isabel Lewis and

Frank Loda, a pediatrician.

They were also part of an even grander,

revolutionary idea that had been kicked

around for a year or two: an entire complex

for at-risk children from birth to age 12.

It would be the first such complex in the

nation and seed money had already been

planted by the federal government,

UNC-Chapel Hill, the Carnegie Foundation,

the state and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro

School system.

Part of the new complex would be an

elementary school, and Sparling was recruited

to help design and to be administrator of the

school. In the meantime, he was named

associate director of FPG.

The idea behind the complex, according to

a newspaper article at the time, was “the

prevention of intellectual deficit due to cultural

deprivation and the enhancement of personal

and social development.” The medical facility

would “be concerned with discovering the

causes, prevention, treatment and cure of

mental retardation and emotional disturbance.”

From day one it was an intervention

program for children at risk, but it was also a

program that from the beginning set up a “real

world” community mix of children and families

from many walks of life.

It was 1966. The Green Bay Packers were

basking in the limelight of winning the first

Super Bowl. The cassette was introduced as

the newest technology for music. The Mamas

and the Papas had exploded onto the music

scene with two hits: “California Dreamin”

and “Monday Monday.”

And a two-year-old girl named Beth

Robinson was the first enrollee at a new

child care research center in three trailers

on Cameron Street in Chapel Hill, NC.

To mark the occasion, her father played

a record of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,

fourth movement.

Beth’s father was Hal Robinson,

co-founder with Ann DeHuff Peters

of the behavioral sciences arm of the

Child Development Institute at the University

of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The other

arm of the institute was the Biological Sciences

Research Center, headed by Morris Lipton.

Those were the post-Kennedy days.

Research money was beginning to flow

toward disadvantaged children, mental

retardation, and poverty. The civil rights

movement was growing. Grants from the

National Institutes of Health had gone out

to a number of institutions that year concerning mental retardation, but the only one that

focused on prevention was the one that

came to UNC-Chapel Hill. Or more specifically

to a child development unit now known as

the Frank Porter Graham Family and Child

Care Program.

“Hal was determined that our daughter

would be the first enrolled,” said Nancy

Robinson, who directed research at the center.

The Robinsons wanted to examine this basic

question: Could child care help prevent

intellectual deficits in what are now called

at-risk families? Peripheral questions had to

do with whether group care for infants was

or was not a good idea, and what it took to

do it well; and how mixed-race and mixedsocioeconomic groups could be created in

a positive way.

“Moussorgsky” and the “sight of

goldfish dangling in a plastic bag

on the crib” was how Newsweek

magazine described the Robinson’s

project in a 1968 article. The children

were also taught French.

earlydevelopments 5 spring 2000 CourierJournal&LouisvilleTimesBillyDavis
CourierJournal&LouisvilleTimesBillyDavis

From the very beginning, there was a

medical component studying health of

children. For example, Al Collier and

others began studying the frequency of

child illnesses in the center. Their research

expanded into respiratory tract infections

and complications (children’s respiratory

tracts were cultured every two weeks at

the center), vaccines against respiratory

pathogens, new ways to detect respiratory

infection, and otitis media.

During the 1970s, Sparling and Isabelle

Lewis devised 100 experiences for young

children from birth to 36 months in the form

of games. Each game was self-contained on

a card with pictures and descriptions, and the

games were presented in sections spanning

about six months of developmental age.

Infant Learning Games was first published

in 1978 in a loose-leaf notebook format

with removable game cards. Later, the book

became a hardback and a paperback and

100 learning games became 150 and then

300. That led to other popular books for

parents and teachers, such as Learningames

for the First Three Years and Learningames

for Threes and Fours and Partners

for Learning.

“There was a spirit of hopefulness.

We talked about breaking the cycle of poverty.

Really break it. We said it as if we were going

to do it. We had a sense that we were going

to accomplish something,” said Sparling,

now retired.

But as cost figures came in and other

considerations were weighed, the

complex eventually fell through,

as did the ideal of a “real world” community.

Funding became available only for

children considered directly at risk.

The vision of scattered

small buildings was

replaced by a large

administrative building

that housed all the

services. The Robinsons

left, although the child

care center itself continued

and grew.

In 1970, Jim Gallagher

was named director of FPG.

He recruited Craig Ramey

to take over the child care project, which was

expanded and refined into the Abecedarian

Project. Considered one of

the premier longitudinal child care studies in

America, it continues today with data showing

that significant benefits of the “stimulating

child care” persist until at least the children

are adults. (See related story on page 2.)

Those early days were filled with

the camaraderie of shared struggles.

Sparling remembered rushing to

cover his data when it rained

because the roof leaked in one

trailer. The children’s playground

was mostly sand and large rocks.

Play equipment included tractor

tires for swings and riding “horses”

made of tree logs nailed onto 2 x 4s.

Metal barrels with “diapers” written

on them stood by the front door

of one trailer.

CourierJournal&LouisvilleTimesBillyDavis

earlydevelopments 6 spring 2000
piloted at the FPG child care facility and later

carried out at more than 65 child care centers.

Last year, two child care classrooms were

added as part of a new model demonstration

project for very young children (18-36 months

of age) with autism and their families. FPG

will disseminate the model to other early

intervention programs in North Carolina and

provide training and technical assistance.

Another study underway at the center may

have significant program implications for early

childhood teachers and child care center

administrators. The project compares what

happens when a child has the same caregiver

for the first three years of life with what

happens to children when caregivers change

in each of the first three years.

The center continues to be a practicum site

for students from a variety of health and

education disciplines.

One of the original dreams of the

 founders of FPG died early on –

a large research and medical

complex and a laboratory school working

with children at risk from birth to age 12.

Perhaps it was ahead of its time.

But what didn’t die were the goals and

beliefs and motivations of the women and the

men who created the Frank Porter Graham

Center. Those dreams live on: Intervention.

Collaboration across disciplines and

university departments. Solid research.

Helping young children and their families

reach their full potential still drives our

researchers and staff. Three decades later,

you continue to feel the “excitement,” the

“spirit of hopefulness,” and “a sense that

we’re going to accomplish something.”

The Abecedarian children graduated

from child care into school.

Investigator Frances Campbell

rounded up grants and the work continued.

Also, beginning in the mid-1970s, FPG began

providing training for UNC nursing students,

offering instruction and practice in such areas

as child health assessment, infant stimulation,

day care, and behavior management.

Additional researchers were recruited and

worked in such areas as nutrition, premature

infants, otitis media, the effect of secondhand cigarette smoke on infants, child care

quality, and inclusion.

By the late 1970s and 1980s, center

researchers were securing a stronger national

reputation and adding more research into

policy implications. The Carolina Institute

for Research on Early Education for the

Handicapped examined the experiences

and perspectives of families of children

with disabilities.

Through the years, the configuration of the

child care operations changed in response to

new research. For example, the child care

program admitted its first children with

disabilities in 1984. And several years ago,

age groupings became more flexible to

accommodate children with varying development levels. Also, child-sized toilets designed

specifically for children with disabilities were

added so that children with disabilities could

learn independence and gain competence.

In the mid-1990s, the playground area was

redesigned and equipped following the

standards of the Consumer Product Safety

Commission, which are based heavily on

accident research.

The child care center has often been used

to pilot a program. For example, Jonathan

Kotch, a professor of maternal and child

health at UNC-CH and an FPG fellow,

directs a training program for early child care

and education professionals, particularly in

health and safety aspects. The study was

But knowledge cannot be pulled

from basic research directly into

practice any more than crude oil

can be pumped from the ground

into an automobile. It needs that

crucial stage of development that

transforms fundamental discoveries

about children into curriculum

products, teaching practices

and parenting techniques.

earlydevelopments 7 spring 2000

DonTrull
Thirty-four years ago, Hal and

Nancy M. Robinson helped begin

the FPG Child Care Center.

After leaving FPG, they joined

the University of Washington.

Before his death in 1981, Hal

founded the UW Center for the

Study of Capable Youth, now

named for him. Nancy remained

in the field of mental retardation

but took up the reins of the center

at Hal’s death. Among the notable

programs of the center, which

serves gifted children, are a

Transition School and Early

Entrance Program for young

teenagers, a clinic, summer

program, and extensive research.

Earlier this year, Nancy Robinson visited FPG

and at one point, she, former FPG Director

Jim Gallagher and former Associate Director

Joe Sparling, sat around reminiscing.

Here are selected excerpts:

Jim Gallagher: “I remember

visiting you and Hal in 1965 or

’66, I think it was. I was still at

the University of Illinois; and

you had put in a grant request to NICHD for

your project here. I was part of a site team to

visit and look around.”

earlydevelopments 8 spring 2000

Nancy Robinson: “The idea

was prevention aimed at

poverty. The war on poverty

and the war on mental

retardation were going on side by side but

nobody was saying they were the same one.

At the beginning, this center was both middleclass and lower-income and cross-racial....and

that was also a big issue at that point.

There was a huge question at the time about

whether infants could be accommodated in

group care. And so the center started with

infants and 2-year-olds.”

Nancy: “In the child care center, children

were grouped across ages, with a special

effort to keep true siblings in the same group.

Infants were kept together until fully ambulatory, I think, and then placed in the cross-age

groups. Children were grouped by age for

‘preschool classes’ for ease of instruction

and because there were some activities

that just couldn’t happen if there were

toddlers interfering.”

Joe Sparling: “Reception to our

work? Some departments, say

at the school of education and

psychology were in general

very cool toward what we were doing. I think

they felt that our work was perhaps too messy

and too vague. It wasn’t what their professors

‘ought’ to be doing.”

Jim: “There were a number of other projects

around the country working on mental retardation and trying to stimulate development...

so there was a community of researchers and

scholars who were communicating with each

other doing the same thing.”
Resources within reason: Materials that

translate brain research into activities for

daily use. Catlett, C., & Winton, P. (1999).

Young Exceptional Children, 2(1), 28.

Resources within reason: Infant-caregiver

connections. Catlett, C., Winton, P., Barrera, I.,

McCollum, J., & Yates, T. (1999).

Young Exceptional Children, 2(2), 28.

Parent education: A term whose time

is past. Winton, P.J., Sloop, S., & Rodriguez, P.

(1999). Topics in Early Childhood Special

Education, 19(3), 157-161.

Preventing secondary conditions and

promoting health, well being, and quality

of life. McMillen, J. S., Simeonsson, R. J., &

McDevitt, L. (1999). In R. J. Simeonsson & L.

McDevitt (Eds.), Issues in disability and

health: The role of secondary conditions and

quality of life (pp 205-220). Chapel Hill:

University of North Carolina, Frank Porter

Graham Child Development Center, North

Carolina Office on Disability & Health.

Behavioral style of young boys with

fragile X syndrome. Hatton, D.D., Bailey,

D.B., Hargett-Beck, M.Q., Skinner, M., & Clark,

R.D. (1999). Developmental Medicine & Child

Neurology, 41, 625-632.

Kindergarten teachers’ practices related

to the transition to school: Results of a

national survey. Pianta, R.C., Cox, M.J., Taylor,

L., & Early, D. (1999). The Elementary School

Journal, 100, 71-86.

The children of the cost, quality, &

outcomes study go to school: Executive

summary. Peisner-Feinberg, E. S., Clifford, R.

M., Burchinal, M. R., Culkin, M., Howes, C.,

Kagan, S. L., Yazejian, N., Byler, P., & Rustici, J.

(1999). Chapel Hill: University of North

Carolina, Frank Porter Graham Child

Development Center.

Almost a million children in school before

kindergarten: Who is responsible for early

childhood services? Clifford, R.M., Early, D.M.,

& Hills, T.W. (1999). Young Children, 54(5), 48-51.

Parents’ report of vocabulary and grammatical development of African American

preschoolers: Child and environmental

associations. Roberts, J. E., Burchinal, M., &

Durham, M. (1999). Child Development, 70(1), 92-106.

Otitis media and hearing loss: Is child

development affected? Roberts, J. E. (1999).

Seminars in Otitis Media Management, 2(1),1-2.

Otitis media and later language and learning.

Roberts, J. E., & Wallace, I. (1999). Seminars in Otitis

Media Management, 2(1), 10-14.

Controversial practices: The need for a

reacculturation of early intervention fields.

McWilliam, R. A. (1999). Topics in Early

Childhood Special Education, 19, 189-193.

Needs and supports reported by Latino

families of young children with developmental

disabilities. Bailey, D., Skinner, D., Correa, V., Arcia, E.,

Blanes, M., Rodriguez, P., Vázquez, E., & Skinner, M.

(1999). American Journal on Mental Retardation,

104, 437-451.

Narrating self and disability: Latino parents’

constructions of identity vis-à-vis their child

with special needs. Skinner, D., Bailey, D., Correa, V., &

Rodriguez. P. (1999). Exceptional Children, 65, 481-495.

Community development approaches for early

intervention. Buysse, V., Wesley, P., & Skinner, D. (1999).

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 19(4),

236-242.

earlydevelopments 9 spring 2000 RecentPublications
Children of depressed mothers score

lower on measures than children of

mothers who are never depressed

earlydevelopments 10 spring 2000

AdobeImageLibrary

The on-going nationwide

Study of Early Child Care by the

National Institute of Child Health

and Human Development (NICHD),

continues to provide significant

data for parents, professionals,

and policymakers about the

relationship between early child

care and children’s development.

Data released in the September 1999 issue of Developmental Psychology

shows that at age three, children whose mothers are chronically depressed

fare significantly worse on tests and other measures of school readiness,

verbal comprehension and language skills than children of mothers who

are never depressed. Those whose mothers are sometimes depressed fall

somewhere in between.
Here are other findings from this report:

• Depressed mothers in general were less sensitive to their children, their children displayed

poorer verbal and language skills and showed

more problem

behaviors.

• Children whose

mothers were

more sensitive,

however, did

better on

measures

and behaved

better regardless of their mother’s level of depression.

• Women with higher incomes and other advantages were more responsive and played better

with their children despite their depression

possibly because they were less stressed.

• Income made no difference in sensitivity

and responsiveness among mothers who

were not depressed.

• Women who were despondent most of the

time not only were least sensitive but also

were the only group to show a decline in

sensitivity between the 15-month and

24-month assessments. As toddlers emerged

from the period some call the “terrible twos”

and became less willful, interactions with

mothers grew more positive.

Other data released last year from the NICHD

Child Care Study shows that higher quality child

care is related to less problem behavior.

Here are highlights from that report:

• Day care in the United States is “fair,”

but not outstanding.

• Such factors as a family’s income, mothers’

psychological well-being, and maternal

behavior have more of an influence on

children’s social competence at two and

three years of age than does the children’s

day care arrangement.

• Quality child care was related to children

displaying greater social competence and

cooperation and less problem behavior at

two and three years of age.

earlydevelopments 11 spring 2000

The researchers suggest possible ways

for improving the nation’s child care:

by improving the ratio of child care

givers to children, lowering group sizes,

increasing care givers’ levels of education, and increasing the safety and

intellectual stimulation of child

care settings.

Investigators who are working on the

NICHD team includes Martha Cox and

Margaret Burchinal from FPG and the

National Center for Early Development

& Learning (NCEDL), also based at

UNC-Chapel Hill, and Robert Bradley

and Robert Pianta from NCEDL.

Bradley is with the University of

Arkansas at Little Rock and Pianta

is with the University of Virginia

at Charlottesville.

Besides UNC-Chapel Hill, other data

collection centers are located at the

universities of Arkansas at Little Rock,

California at Irvine, Kansas, New

Hampshire, Pittsburgh, Virginia,

Washington at Seattle, Wisconsin,

and Temple University. The overall

NICHD study began in 1991.

• More experiences in groups with other

children predicted more cooperation with

other children and fewer problem behaviors at both two and three years of age.

• The consistency of the day care setting also

played a role in the development of social

competence. At age two, children who had

been in a number of different day care

arrangements showed more problem

behaviors than did children who

had been in fewer day care

arrangements.

• Child care experience has no

discernible influence on the

security of children’s attachments

to their mothers by age three.

• In general, the education of

the mothers was more strongly

related to positive qualities of

maternal care than was the

amount or quality of child care.

However, mothers were slightly

more positive and supportive

with their children when less

child care was used or when

child care quality was higher.

• Parents have an important

influence on children’s

development regardless of

how much child care their

children experience.

Comparisons between children

in child care and those experiencing exclusive care from their

mothers tell us little until we

consider the quality of care.

High quality child care offers

an advantage to children and

low quality care a disadvantage

for cognitive and language

development as compared to

care from the average mother.
Child-teacher relationship in child care predicts later social relations

Relationships

child&teacher

Following are excerpts from “Socialemotional classroom climate in child care,

child-teacher relationships and children’s

second-grade peer relations” by Carollee

Howes, UCLA. Data for this paper, which is

in press at Social Development, was gathered

in the Cost Quality and Outcomes Study,

a five-year on-going longitudinal study

examining the effects of child care in

four states.

The quality of children’s early relation

ships with their teachers in child care

is emerging as an important predictor

of children’s social relations with peers as

older children. Our data explored the relative

contributions of early classroom social/

emotional climate and individual relationships

and behaviors to social competence with

peers five years later.

Results

• Children who rated high in peer

aggression, disruption, and social

withdrawal were rated high in childteacher relationship conflict and low

in child-teacher relationship closeness.

• Children who rated high in prosocial

behavior with peers also were rated

high in child-teacher relationship

closeness and low in child-teacher

relationship conflict.

• Classrooms with higher levels of

behavior problems had lowers levels

of child-teacher closeness.

Predictive factors

Children’s second-grade social competence

with peers ratings could be predicted by

• preschool classroom socialemotional climate,

• four-year-old behavior problems and

child-teacher relationship quality and

• contemporary child-teacher

relationship quality.

Aggression ratings were best predicted by

• a preschool classroom high in behavior

problems and low in child-teacher

closeness,

• the child’s poor child-teacher

closeness as a four-year-old and

• contemporary child-teacher

relationship conflict.

Disruption ratings could best be predicted by

• being a boy,

• preschool classroom climates high in

behavior problems and low in childteacher closeness as a four-year-old and

• high levels of child-teacher conflict as a

earlydevelopments 12 second grader. spring 2000

DonTrull
If children feel emotionally secure

with the teacher they can use her

as a secure base and a resource

for exploring the learning

opportunities of the classroom.

Each child-teacher relationship is

built independently of the child’s

prior adult-child relationships

(including child-mother) and

of the other child-teacher

relationships in the classroom.

DonTrull

Underpinning our thinking

Howe’s perspective on teacher-child

relationships is drawn from attachment

theory, which assumes that children use their

relationships with significant adults to

organize their experiences.

Current research suggests that children with

close child-teacher relationships are

also socially competent with peers.

Children perceived by teachers as difficult

four-year-olds tend to build child-teacher

relationships high in conflict.

These persist so that by kindergarten,

children who were problematic four-year-olds

tend to be less able than children with other

relationship histories to use the child-teacher

relationships to master the academic content

of school.

Our outcome measure, second-grade social

competence with peers, is significant because

by mid-elementary school, individual

differences in children’s social competence

with peers appears to stabilize and predict

future adaptive or non-adaptive behavior

in adolescence.

Aggression and social withdrawal are

maladaptive behaviors, indicating the absence

of social competence.

Prosocial ratings could best be predicted by

• being a girl,

• preschool classroom climates high in

time spent interacting with peers,

• the child’s low levels of behavior

problems as a four-year-old and

• high levels of child-teacher closeness

and low levels of child-teacher conflict

as a second grader.

Ratings of social withdrawal could best be

predicted by

• a classroom climate high on

behavior problems,

• low levels of individual behavior

problems as a four-year-old and

• low levels of child-teacher closeness as

a second grader.

Discussion

Considerable individual variation in

children’s social competence with peers

as second graders can be understood by

examining both their individual experiences

as four-year-olds in child care and the

social emotional climate of their child

care classroom.

These findings support the premise that

individual relationships are constructed

within particular contexts. The contributions

of the individual children, their teachers and

the climate of the context are all important

predictors. Both child care teachers and

elementary teachers may benefit from an

increased awareness of the importance

of the social and emotional climate of

the classroom.

This suggests that teacher preparation

programs may need to focus on this aspect

of curriculum for young children as well as

more traditional material.

earlydevelopments 13 spring 2000
Collaborative innovations

Massachusetts’s discretionary grant

program requires the collaboration of early

care and education providers, families with

young children, and other members of local

communities, reports Elisabeth Schaefer of the

state Dept. of Education. Local Community

Partnerships for Children Councils:

• choose the lead agency that administers

the project (public school, Head Start or

child care agency)

• conduct needs assessments

• create comprehensive service systems

for 3- and 4-year-old children and

their families

• evaluate community plans, implementation of plans, and outcomes and

• serve as policy and planning bodies.

The state mandates collaboration, a

needs assessment plan, and then

provides funds. Partnerships serve 3- and

4-year-olds in families with incomes up

to the state median, $55,000 for a family

of 4. The state requires communities to

use a sliding-fee scale to determine what

parents pay for services, including

services provided in schools.

Minnesota has created the State Department of Children, Families & Learning (CFL)

that brings together K-12 education with

community service programs, according to

Barbara Yates of CFL. Parents and community

members are part of program, advisory, and

planning committees.

This means:

• Creation of a single voice for childhood

services which gives these issues more

prominence in the executive and

policy arenas.

• More comprehensive and coordinated

access to data.

• More integrated funding. Policymakers

have a better opportunity to examine

state-level barriers that impede services

and give a more coordinated response.

NEWS

www.ncedl.org

Georgia Conference

Nearly 1,000,000 Served

earlydevelopments 14 spring 2000 NCEDLNews

Innovative ideas in early education

exchanged at Georgia conference

Educators, researchers, and legislators from

Europe, Australia, and America came together

just over a year ago in Atlanta, to talk about

the “single most important investment we

can make” as Georgia Gov. Zell Miller said.

That investment is providing early education

opportunities for the nation’s young children.

Participants in the conference “Education

in the Early Years” heard from domestic and

international programs; considered the most

recent research; and discussed alternatives

to structuring and financing these programs.

Sponsors included the National Center for

Early Development & Learning.

Following are excerpts from states

trying innovative techniques ➲
Connecticut has two major collaborative

thrusts, according to Elaine Zimmerman

of the Connecticut Commission on Children.

• The school reading program (passed in

1997) offers full access for three- and fouryear-olds, the pooling of dollars across

social service and education departments

to expand hours and quality, service

integration linking healthcare, literacy,

employment and job training at the

preschool site. A career ladder supports

the work experience, training and career

paths of providers. Preschool programs

must be accredited or in the process of

accreditation with NAEYC, Head Start or

other similar standards. The program gets

$80 million for the first two years of a

five-year plan; it also contains $70 million

in loan funds for capital expansion.

• The literacy program (passed in 1998)

creates a comprehensive early intervention strategy targeting at-risk children

K-3rd grade. The state appropriated $20

million for intensive reading programs,

reduced class size, full-day kindergarten,

after-school and summer school

programs, and teacher training.

Parents are written into both bills as consumers with whom institutions must

collaborate proactively.

Oregon’s collaborative early childhood system

serves children, ages 0-8, and their families,

according to Dell Ford with the state Department of Education. The essential elements are

family involvement, inclusion, positive relationships, child development, professional staff,

continuity, health, an appropriate environment,

and effective administration.

Oregon has an open competitive process

for funding programs; all service providers

can apply except religiously oriented programs.

Also, schools must look at transition issues for

preK students. Schools must coordinate with

child care. Partnerships ensure that someone

at the school works with health and

human resources.

It is time that America

determines to make the

most out of this critical

time in a child’s life.

If our children are going to

compete in a global market,

we must make them global

thinkers. It is incumbent to

do everything we can –

as soon as we can –

to prepare them to learn

and to function in a world

no longer limited by state

or national boundaries.

— Zell Miller

Georgia governor

earlydevelopments 15 spring 2000 NCEDLNews

The state has allocated money for preK to

partner with federal Head Start to increase the

number of low-income children receiving early

education services. This is known as Head Start

Prekindergarten. Also, Temporary Assistance to

Needy Families money is used to help federal

Head Start expansion efforts to extend the day/

year of Head Start services. Oregon’s goal is to

serve 50% of eligible children by 1999 and

100% by 2004.

Infrastructure innovations

Vermont, through its Early Childhood

Workgroup, has developed a number of interrelated factors to strengthen its infrastructure,

according to Cheryl Mitchell of the Vermont

Agency of Human Services. These include:

• Core standards for all center-based,

home-based, and home-visiting programs.

• A career lattice that links early childhood

services across the career spectrum.

• Increased incentive payments for

NAEYC-accredited programs.

• An extensive training system and the

involvement of higher education in

professional development.

• A revolving loan fund for improving

child care settings and a mini-grant

program for equipment, supplies,

and specialized training.

• Use of interactive television and outreach.

• Partnership between state and community

collaboratives around enhanced quality

in early care and education.

• Links between schools, centers,

and home-based providers.

• Reinforcement of family-centered practice.

Texas has formed the Texas Head Start-State

Collaboration Project (THSSCP) which creates

and supports statewide partnerships among

Head Start, child care and preK programs.

Parents are members of the THSSCP Task

Force and participate in various workshops.

THSSCP gets $300,000 a year from Head

Start (federal) and child development

block grant (state). (continued on page 16)
Funding solutions suggested include

• Educating parents, the public and the

government about the costs of low

quality and a lack of services

• Building a system on existing resources

and models

• Creating a funding partnership among

parents, government, and employers

• Using a mix of public sources, such as

general revenues from taxes and

lotteries, state budget surpluses, increased tax on upper income families

(especially capital gains), dependent care

assistant plans with matching contributions and rollover, a children’s trust fund

similar to the Social Security system, and

a 50% tax on campaign funds.

Evaluation innovation

Georgia’s ongoing evaluation of its

Prekindergarten Program looks for program

characteristics that produce a “competitive

advantage” for children, according to

Gary T. Henry of Georgia State University.

The evaluation also examines which

educational practices in the years after

preK enhance or dampen the effects of

the preK program on four-year-olds.

 Program quality, teachers’ beliefs and

practices, and developmentally appropriate

practices in preschool are measured on a

stratified probability sample of more than

3,000 children. Family background and

preschool program characteristics are

monitored. Parents are interviewed each

year for the first three years.

These outcomes are measured: rating of

student performance on cognitive, behavioral, and social skills, attendance, promotion,

referrals to special programs, and expectations for each student by parents and

teachers.

(Texas continued from page 15)

These major projects are being implemented:

• Texas Core Standards

• Texas Career Development System

• Early Care and Education Collaboration

Tool Kit

• Transition Training Pilots

North Carolina’s “TEACH” component of its

statewide Smart Start initiative is an umbrella

for a variety of scholarship programs that

help child care workers take college courses

and get paid for it, according to Sue Russell

of the Day Care Services Association. TEACH

has operated for eight years and provided

more than 4,000 scholarships.

Another state program—Child Care WAGE$

Project— provides salary supplements to

eligible child care teachers, directors, and

family child care providers linked to the level

of their education.

Both projects maintain comprehensive

databases that track participants’ demographics, history, progress, increased education,

turnover, and so forth. TEACH funds come

from private and public sectors, including

foundation and corporate sources. The Child

Care WAGE$ Project is funded with Smart

Start money. Both projects have shown that

increased compensation can have a dramatic

impact on turnover.

Funding innovation

Thirty nine states fund preschool programs

with their own money from special taxes,

lotteries and gaming, state general funds, state

education appropriations, and other methods,

according to Anne Mitchell of the Early

Childhood Research Institute and W. Steven

Barnett of Rutgers University Graduate School

of Education.

Nationwide, child care and early education

is funded 60% by families, 39% by government, and 1% by the private section.

PreK is rapidly growing in state budgets.

Some 39 states have money for preK or add

on to Head Start. The trend is for three- and

four-year-olds with few initiatives for children

birth to five.

earlydevelopments 16 spring 2000 NCEDLNews

NEWS

Georgia Conference

NCEDL
“School systems are a major

new force in early childhood.

This has both positive and

negative implications for

the field,”

– Richard M. Clifford

Researcher, Co-director

National Center for

Early Development

& Learning

NEWS NCEDL

Schools and school districts are becoming

increasingly involved in providing services

to children and families prior to entry into

formal school at the customary kindergarten

entry age.

Using data from the 1995 National Household Education Survey (US Department of

Education), a new study by researchers

at NCEDL estimates that some 900,000

prekindergarten children were served in a

public elementary, junior high or high school

in 1995.

“School systems are a major new force

in early childhood. This has both positive

and negative implications for the field,” said

Researcher Richard M. Clifford, who is also

co-director of the National Center for Early

Development at UNC-Chapel Hill.

On the positive side, he said, schools bring

a strong tradition of service to all children.

A 1999 report showed that standards for

state-funded pre-kindergarten programs in

many states are quite high. “Second, schools

represent a strong potential ally in securing

revenue for early childhood programming.”

On the negative side, school officials have

been historically reluctant to incorporate services to children prior to kindergarten

entry age—a position sometimes supported

by public opinion regarding the appropriate

role of the education system, said Diane Early

who also worked on the study.

She said, “Schools have been slow to meet

the needs of families for services beyond the

traditional school day (usually about six-anda-half hours/day) and school year (usually

around nine months). Today most families

with children three to four years old age

need full-day (at least eight hours a day)

and full-year services.”

In an article published in a recent Young

Children, the researchers wrote, “We propose

the creation of a National Commission on

Early Childhood Services to examine the

issue of how we, as a country, will serve our

youngest citizens. Until we have agreement

on the basic issues of who has responsibility

for governing early childhood services, who

has responsibility for financing these services,

and how we can best take advantage of the

rich resources for serving children in this

country, many families will continue to face a

patchwork of services with many children

spending their early years in settings of

unknown quality.

For more information:

“Almost a Million Children in School Before

Kindergarten: Who is responsible for Early

Childhood Services?” Richard M. Clifford,

Diane M. Early & Tynette Hills. Young Children

54 (5), 48-51.

Nearly1,000,000

preK children being served

in public school areas

earlydevelopments 17 spring 2000 NCEDLNews
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