Better quality centers seem to have long waiting lists. Since research has shown that parents regularly turn to their child care provider for parenting information, providers will continue to be used as volunteers in distributing NCE parenting information. Additionally, childcare providers are targeted with programming. For ten years NCE has received funding through the Nevada State Licensing Bureau to develop, implement and evaluate curricula for child care providers to improve the overall quality of childcare available to Nevada parents. Each year a different topic is identified.
Public education remains an important issue due to crowded classrooms and high dropout rates.
In 1989, only 60 percent of estimated eligible Nevada students graduated. The Nevada Literacy Coalition estimates that over a quarter of a million Nevada adults and youth lack adequate literacy skills. The coalition defines literacy as a person's possession of the essential skills and knowledge in speaking, reading, writing English and performing arithmetic operations, at levels which allow competent functioning. Among at-risk students, reading skills have been shown to be the best predictor of later successful adult adjustment. Nevada employers identify a lack of basic literacy skills as impacting the productivity of their companies.