DOI: 10.3886/icpsr32621.v1
title: Maryland Cooperative Agreement: The Effect of Subsidy Programs on School Readiness
title: Version 1

description: This project allowed the Maryland State Department of Education to accomplish two objectives:Enhance, merge and expand existing databases on early childhood education and care. Use those databases to understand the effects of the child care subsidy program on children's school readiness at kindergarten entry in Maryland. The first part of the project involved integrating existing state databases, including those of the child care subsidy program, licensing and credentialing programs, and the Maryland Model for School Readiness kindergarten assessment data as outcome measures. It also included negotiating to gain access to relevant additional databases, including those of the Resource and Referral agencies, Head Start organizations, public pre-K, etc. This was done under the advisement of a Research Advisory Group, composed of state staff, university and research partners, out-of-state advisors, and representatives of local provider groups. In the second part of the project, as a result of the increased capability to study the connections between child care subsidies, licensing compliance, credentialing and accreditation, and school readiness, analysis of the merged data addressed such questions as:How are parents of four year old children using child care subsidies? Is there a significant association between child care subsidies and children's school readiness upon entering kindergarten? What is the availability of child care providers accepting subsidies in the state of Maryland? What are the associations between child care subsidies, type of child care arrangement used, and children's kindergarten readiness scores?
description: The purpose of this study was to merge existing data from a variety of sources, including the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) at Towson University, and kindergarten readiness data using the Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR). The combined data was used to examine the associations between child care subsidies and the availability of care, parental use of high-quality care, and children's school readiness.
description: The study data files contain subsidy and provider data from the state of Maryland, June 2007 through September 2010 and subsequent year kindergarten readiness data for school years 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011. The data collection is a customized merge of existing series, including:Child Care Subsidy data collected since May 2007 in the Child Care Administration Tracking System (CCATS) of the Maryland State Department of Education's (MSDE) Office of Child Care. Kindergarten readiness data collected since the 2001-2002 school year and held by MSDE Additional supporting data on all licensed providers in the state of Maryland, with associated compliance, workforce, accreditation, and other quality measures.
description: Presence of Common Scales: The Maryland Model for School Readiness was a customized adaptation of the Work Sampling System TM, and is described on the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) Web site.Other programs and measures used are particular to the State of Maryland.
description: The sample includes all administrative records available within the following parameters: All 4 year old children enrolled in the Child Care Subsidy program in Maryland in the year before Kindergarten entry for the years 2007-2008, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, including their service history by week. Source is administrative data. All children entering kindergarten in the year following the above, with their kindergarten readiness scores and demographic characteristics. Additional supporting data on all licensed providers in the state of Maryland, with associated compliance, workforce, accreditation, and other quality measures. Source is kindergarten teacher assessments according to the Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR).
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Year 1 Voucher Data DS2: Year 1 Voucher Longitudinal Data DS3: Year 2 Voucher Data DS4: Year 2 Voucher Longitudinal Data DS5: Year 3 Voucher Data DS6: Year 3 Voucher Longitudinal Data DS7: Year 1 Provider Data DS8: Year 2 Provider Data DS9: Year 3 Provider Data DS10: MMSR Data [2008, 2009, 2010]
description: The universe includes all children enrolled in the Child Care Subsidy Program in Maryland in the year before they enter kindergarten, all children entering kindergarten in the subsequent year, and all licensed care providers in the state of Maryland.. Smallest Geographic Unit: county
description: coded on-site observation; face-to-face interview; telephone interviewCommon identifiers can be used to link data, including Voucher_ID, CHILD_PARTY_ID and PROVIDER_CASE_ID. A complete description on merging these data is included in the User Guide which is provided with the data. The following is a list of ways to link the data: MMSR Data file to Voucher Data files via CHILD_PARTY_ID Voucher Data files to Voucher Longitudinal Data files via Voucher_ID Voucher Data files to Provider Data files via PROVIDER_CASE_ID