We're warehousing children,'' said Ellen Galinsky, director of the Families and Work Institute. She recently testified before Congress on the topic. Day-care facilities offering good care, by comparison, are safe, supportive and offer plenty of learning opportunities for children, she said. They are places where teachers are highly trained and have classes small enough to give children individual attention. A similar study, published in 1995, looked at 401 large day-care centers in four states.
Studies also indicate quality of care plays a role in crime.
You have this opportunity early in life to give kids an experience that seems to head them away from crime, or you can give them a custodial experience that doesn't head them away from crime,'' he said. Zigler said research shows high-quality programs help all children, ''but they are particularly beneficial to poor children. Fewer than 3 percent of the 466 day-care centers in Maine are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Audrey Maynard, as director of the childhood education program at Casco Bay College, regularly goes through day-care operations to observe her students doing internships. For example, Maynard considers wooden blocks of different sizes to be a basic component for child care, yet few programs have them.