Child Care Characteristics and Quality in Nebraska

The Midwest Child Care Research Consortium conducted a study of child care quality and characteristics of the child care work force in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri to help states establish a baseline for tracking quality over time, following initiatives, policy and other changes. The measures are not based on Nebraska child care licensing standards. Rather, using research-based measures of quality, they assess the extent to which quality indicators are present among the child care settings and in the work force. The current study included a random telephone survey of 2022 Midwestern child care providers (508 from Nebraska), conducted during late spring and summer of 2001 by the Gallup Organization, and follow-up in-depth observations of 365 providers (85 from Nebraska), conducted by four Midwestern state universities. Key findings from the study are as follows: 1. In Nebraska, as is true across the Midwestern states, a majority of providers regard child care as their profession, have been providing child care for over five years and intend to stay in the field. This is despite low, fulltime earnings (averaging $14,700 a year in Nebraska), which, for many providers, is below poverty level. 2. Using well-respected measures of quality, the researchers found that child care quality in Nebraska is comparable to that of Midwestern neighbors Missouri and Kansas and to child care nationwide; 34% of care observed was “good” quality; 48% was rated as minimal or mediocre quality and 18% was rated poor quality. Center-based infant/toddler, center-based preschool and licensed family child care were comparable to one another in quality and to similar care of Midwestern neighbors, while license exempt (approved) care averaged lower quality than other types of care in Nebraska. Other studies have shown that good quality on the measure used in the Midwest study predicts positive school readiness outcomes for children, and poor quality predicts poorer outcomes for children, especially for children in poverty. 3. A number of training, education, accreditation and workplace efforts were associated with higher quality including: Heads Up! Reading (in Nebraska preschool center-based settings); employee benefits such as health care (in center-based settings); the Child Development Associate Credential; participating in the USDA Food Program; first aid training; higher levels of education; entering into partnership with a Head Start or Early Head Start program; completing a nationally recognized accreditation in early childhood education; following a curriculum; and completing more than 24 hours of training in the previous year. Nebraska led the Midwest in the percentage of providers who had completed CPR and first aid training. 4. The study identified ways that Nebraska can improve child care quality. Two of these are to improve pre-literacy environments and to provide incentives to improve quality to providers who serve children receiving child care subsidies. First, Nebraska child care was deficient in preliteracy environments. Following the current national emphasis on preliteracy skills (reading to children, helping them understand and appreciate print media, and encouraging expression), pre-literacy environments are likely to be emphasized in upcoming child care block grant and Head Start reauthorizations in 2003. Few infant/toddler providers were observed reading to children; many family home providers lacked materials to encourage verbal expression. While preschool center-based providers had more books available, many scored only at a minimal level in pre-literacy activities. Second, among providers caring for children receiving subsidies, in some sectors the quality was lower when providers cared for larger portions of children receiving child care subsidies. Incentives for quality among family providers caring for children receiving subsidies are recommended to ensure that low-income children receive quality care. Nebraska and its neighbors in the Region VII of U.S. DHHS are among the first states in the nation to assess child care quality on a statewide and region wide basis. These baseline data will permit examination of changes over time in quality; for example, as a result of the new Nebraska TEACH program and other new and continuing initiatives

Understanding perceptions of quality among early childhood education stakeholders in Tanzania and Lesotho: A multiple qualitative case study

Recent global efforts around early childhood education (ECE) have led to increased investments and access, especially in low- and middle-income countries (UNESCO, 2019). As access grows, focus has shifted from enrollment to quality (Gove, 2017). This paper explores how ECE stakeholders in Tanzania and Lesotho define ECE quality. Findings show that stakeholders define quality in similar ways, highlighting the importance of trained teachers who implement specific teaching practices, strong partnerships with families and the community, critical infrastructure, and government support. However, review of the country contexts found that current conditions and support for these quality indicators were lacking

A Toolkit for Measuring Early Childhood Development in Low and Middle-Income Countries

The Toolkit provides a practical, “how-to” guide for selection and adaptation of child development measurements for use in low- and middle-income countries. Users can follow the proposed step-by-step process to select, adapt, implement, and analyze early childhood development data for diverse purposes and projects. Researchers, evaluators, and program personnel from various disciplines interested in assessing early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries will find the book useful for planning and evaluating interventions, monitoring development over time, or conducting a situation analysis. The book updates and expands a previous 2009 edition, incorporating new research on the use of child development measurement tools in low- and middle-income countries. The ECD Measurement Inventory that accompanies this Toolkit contains 147 measurement tools for children under 8 years. For each test it reports the domains assessed, age range for which the tool is appropriate, method of administration, purpose of the assessment, origin and locations of use, logistics, and cost

Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood?

A recent Nature article modelled within-country inequalities in primary, secondary, and tertiary education and forecast progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to education (SDG 4). However, their paper entirely overlooks inequalities in achieving Target 4.2, which aims to achieve universal access to quality early childhood development, care and preschool education by 2030. This is an important omission because of the substantial brain, cognitive and socioemotional developments that occur in early life and because of increasing evidence of early-life learning's large impacts on subsequent education and lifetime wellbeing. We provide an overview of this evidence and use new analyses to illustrate medium- and longterm implications of early learning, first by presenting associations between pre-primary programme participation and adolescent mathematics and science test scores in 73 countries and secondly, by estimating the costs of inaction (not making pre-primary programmes universal) in terms of forgone lifetime earnings in 134 countries. We find considerable losses, comparable to or greater than current governmental expenditures on all education (as percentages of GDP), particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries. In addition to improving primary, secondary and tertiary schooling, we conclude that to attain SDG 4 and reduce inequalities in a post-COVID era, it is essential to prioritize quality early childhood care and education, including adopting policies that support families to promote early learning and their children's education

Regulation, Subsidy Receipt and Provider Characteristics: What Predicts Quality in Child Care Homes?

Far less is known about predictors of quality for family child care homes than for child care centers. The current study of 120 randomly-selected family child care providers in four Midwestern states examined distal, state policy-level variables (family child care regulations and the concentration of children cared for who received public child care subsidies, referred to as subsidy density), and proximal, provider-level variables (providers’ level of education and reported annual training hours) as influences on global quality and caregiver sensitivity. More regulation, lower subsidy density, higher levels of provider education and more training hours were associated with higher global quality in family child care homes. Lower subsidy density and higher provider education were associated with more sensitive caregiving, but no effects on sensitivity were observed for regulation and training hours. An interaction effect indicated that regulation moderated the relation between education and sensitivity; education was especially important for sensitive caregiving among providers low in regulation. In addition, after including all predictor variables in the model, significant mean differences between states were noted. Findings demonstrate that both policy-level variables and provider characteristics influence quality in family child care homes, and further, that they may interact to affect observed child care quality. Implications for state child care policies are discussed with emphasis on implications for quality of care for low-income children whose tuition is paid by public child care subsidies

Mini-Review on Capacity-Building for Data-Driven Early Childhood Systems: The Consortium for Pre-primary Data and Measurement in Sub-Saharan Africa

Low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) are increasing investments in early childhood development programs, including early childhood education. As programs reach scale, there is increasing demand for evidence on impacts of investments. Little work to date has examined capacity required to effectively use data at scale in LMIC, including opportunities and barriers to integrating data into ongoing program implementation and tracking child development and quality of services at scale. Below, we outline the rationale and approach of the Consortium for Pre-primary Data and Measurement in Sub-Saharan Africa, focused on building capacity for data-driven decision-making in early childhood systems. Themes from the first phase include the importance of building diverse groups of stakeholders to define priorities for data and measurement, the need for coordinated and strategic investments in data and measurement, and the value of long-term investments in government/civil society/university partnerships to generate locally relevant data on early childhood education

Early Childhood Education in Brazil: Child Rights to ECE in Context of Great Disparities

One of the world’s largest countries, Brazil’s national policies on early childhood are some of the most progressive and comprehensive in the world. Notable themes in Brazil’s early childhood system include the national protection of children’s rights, the integration of children’s development, starting at birth, into the national education system, and universal preschool education. These rights are juxtaposed against a highly devolved political structure in the context of significant socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and geographic disparities. As a result, there is variability in access to quality early childhood settings. This case study explores access to quality early childhood education (ECE) for children aged four to six years. We describe the economic and policy contexts of ECE in Brazil, with emphasis on the role of ECE in addressing regional, racial/ethnic, and economic disparities

Child Care Quality and Workforce Characteristics in Four Midwestern States

The purpose of the Year 1 Studies of the Midwest Child Care Research Consortium was to describe hypothesized and potential indicators of quality, to measure observed quality, and to conduct preliminary analyses to determine relationships between the hypothesized and potential indicators and observations of quality, using a representative, randomly selected sample of the provider population. The states studied—Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska—comprise U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region VII. Following an examination of the child care policy context in the four states, a telephone survey of 2,022 child care providers, and observations of 365 providers, were completed during late spring and summer of 2001. Participants were selected at random from state lists of licensed and subsidy-receiving providers following a complex stratification plan that sampled for state, subsidy, and type of care (infant-toddler center-based, preschool center-based, licensed family child care, registered family child care, and license-exempt home providers and a few state-specific categories). Respondents were also classified according to whether they were Early Head Start/Head Start child care partners. Respondents were queried about hypothesized correlates of quality and other provider characteristics. The survey provided a comprehensive description of child care providers in the Midwest and a comprehensive description of potential indicators of child care quality. In some cases, there were differences in provider characteristics or observed quality by state, subsidy receipt, type of care, or Early Head Start/Head Start partnership. A number of provider characteristics that associate with quality were identified. Some were as hypothesized, but other provider characteristics were also important correlates of quality. In subsequent reports, predictors of quality will be identified

Applying unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques to early childcare soundscapes

Early childhood is a critical time period for language, brain, cognitive, and social/emotional development. Out-of-home childcare is a normative, typical experience for millions of young children. Although Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in K-12 settings has received recent, significant attention, the links between IEQ and children’s learning and development in early childcare settings is a less understood topic. This work focuses specifically on the sound aspect of IEQ in early childcare settings to better understand typical noise levels and occupant experience. Standard approaches to analyzing background noise will be presented alongside more detailed statistical analyses utilizing unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques. Noise data collected in three daycares will be presented using typical acoustic metrics and clustering techniques to better understand room activity conditions and support new metrics. Overall, this study can lead to a better understanding of daycare soundscapes and pave the way towards a better childcare for young children

Profiles of Quality in Three Distinct Early Childhood Programs Using the Brief Early Childhood Quality Inventory (BEQI)

Quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) is important for young children’s holistic healthy development. As ECCE scales, contextually relevant and feasible measurement is needed to inform policy and programs on strengths and areas for improvement. However, few measures have been designed for use across diverse contexts. Drawing on principles of mixed methods design, this study reports on a new approach to ECCE quality measurement: the Brief Early Childhood Quality Inventory. Using data from the USA, Liberia, and Colombia, results indicate variation in the items perceived as highly relevant to each setting and in the characteristics of classrooms including the degree of child autonomy, the types of activities, and in child/educator interactions and dialogue. However, despite this variation, a small set of items indicate potential functionality as cross-country anchor items. Findings lend support to the idea that quality measures can have some common elements with room for adaptation within and across settings. Future work in this area should address the possibility that the significance of these practices for child development also varies across settings