Yale Bulletin and Calendar

June 21-July 19, 1999

Volume 27, Number 34

Study shows quality of child care
affects school performance

A major study conducted by researchers from Yale and three other universities has found that children enrolled in higher-quality child care programs do better in their early school years than those in low-quality care.

The study, "Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes," tracked children for four years -- from 1993, while they were in preschool, through the second grade. Researchers from Yale, the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, the University of North Carolina and the University of California at Los Angeles took part in the study, which examined the cost and quality of early child care and early learning, and how these factors relate to children's development and school readiness.

When it began in 1993, more than 800 children were selected for the study; about half of them were still taking part by the time they were in the second grade.

The study shows that young children receiving poor-quality child care were less prepared for school and tended to have less success in the early phases of school than students who received high-quality care in their preschool years.

Children who attended higher-quality child care centers scored higher than those who received lower-quality care on measures of both cognitive (language and math abilities ) and social skills (interactions with peers, problem behaviors) in child care and through the transition into school, according to the researchers. The study also found that high-quality child care continues to positively predict children's performance well into their school careers.

The link between the quality of preschool care and early educational success is of national concern, say researchers. In the United States, approximately 74 percent of 3- to 5-year-olds (or 6.8 million preschoolers) receive some type of child care on a regular basis.

"There is one clear and compelling implication from this study: America must find a way to provide high-quality child care for all children needing care prior to school entry. There are a variety of ways of accomplishing this goal, but the goal should be clear," says Sharon Lynn Kagan, a Yale researcher involved in the study. Kagan is a senior associate at the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Psychology and senior research scientist/
scholar at the Yale Child Study Center and in the psychology department.

The study also found that the quality of child care experiences had the greatest impact on children who have traditionally been at risk for not doing well in school. Lower-quality care, for example, negatively affected the math skills and social behavior of children whose mothers had lower levels of education. Conversely, at-risk children benefited the most from good-quality child care. The quality of preschool child care continued to influence children at risk in the second grade.

To assess the quality of preschool care, the investigators used a variety of criteria to rate the classroom environment, including teacher responsiveness, teaching style and classroom programs and activities.

"One aspect of child care quality that is related to children's success as they move into school is classroom practice -- the materials, activities, and daily experiences provided in child care. These kinds of high-quality practices provide a foundation for children's language and math skills which carry over into learning during the early elementary years," said Ellen Peisner-Feinberg, a researcher at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and another investigator on the project.

Researchers also found that the relationship children had with their preschool teachers influenced their social development through the early school years. Children who had closer relationships with their child care teachers scored higher on classroom behavior and social skills, including better thinking and attention skills, fewer problem behaviors and better relationships with their peers.

"In terms of teacher-child relationships, I think what happens is children who have good relationships with child care teachers leave child care expecting to have positive relationships with their school teachers," explained Carollee Howes, a researcher from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Researchers for the study made a number of recommendations for child care policymakers at both the national and state levels. These include the expansion of efforts by states to provide preschool care and education experiences for children to help prepare them for success in school and greater levels of investment in early childhood care and education programs, including efforts on the part of both government and the private sector.

In addition, researchers advocated changing child care policies at both the federal and state levels to encourage higher quality programs. Among their recommendations are the redesign of child care subsidy systems to provide incentives for delivering high-quality care, tax incentives that could be tied to child care quality, and improved teacher training.

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley says: "In families where both parents work full-time to make ends meet, the children can spend as many waking hours in child care as they do with their parents. This study underscores the importance of high-quality child care in laying the developmental foundation for every child to enter school ready to learn. I urge policymakers at all levels of government to redouble their efforts to make quality child care opportunities available to hard-working American families."

The research project was funded by grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the William T. Grant Foundation, the JFM Foundation, the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the USWEST Foundation, one anonymous foundation, and the Educational Research and Development Centers Programs as administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

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