Understanding Quality in Context: Child Care Centers, Communities, Markets, and Public Policy

Abstract

Early care and education can prepare children for school, but while some preschool and child care programs do an excellent job, others are inadequate and some may even harm healthy development. This study focuses on child care center directors to better understand why there is so much variation, and how public initiatives can better help poor-quality programs improve. Using data from in-depth interviews and classroom observations, the research considers how various factors—including director and program characteristics, market forces, and federal state and local policies—are associated with each other, director decision making, and program quality.

The text below is an excerpt from the complete document. Read the full report in PDF format.

Executive Summary

Children's earliest experiences can have substantial and long-lasting effects on their development. Early care and education can prepare children for school, but while some preschool and child care programs do an excellent job, others are inadequate and some may even harm healthy development. Why is there so much variation, and how can public initiatives help poor-quality programs improve?

While research has told us a lot about key dimensions of quality—for example the role of stable, well-trained staff—and has delineated major barriers to achieving it, we know little about what influences the variation in quality of services, even among programs that face similar challenges. Why can one program provide high-quality services while another, facing similar constraints, cannot? And how can a low-achieving program start on a path toward high performance? Answering these questions could help us make even more effective use of the billions of dollars the United States spends every year to help parents access early care and education services.

This study begins to address that gap by focusing on child care center directors and analyzing how their decisions and perspectives, and the context within which they work, affect the quality of their programs. Through that work, we considered each program's financial stability, staffing, and reliance on outside standards and licensing requirements. Ultimately, our goal is to identify what supports quality in some centers, what blocks progress in others, and how public policy can do more to ensure that all children get off to a good start.

(End of excerpt. The full report is available in PDF format.)

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

Usage, posting and reprint of materials on the UI web site:

Most publications may be downloaded free of charge from the web site in PDF format. This information may be used and copies made for research, academic, policy or other non-commercial purposes. Proper attribution is required.

Copyright of the written materials contained within the Urban Institute website is owned or controlled by the Urban Institute. Posting UI research papers on other websites is permitted subject to prior approval from the Urban Institute—contact paffairs@urban.org.

If you are unable to access or print the PDF document please contact us or call the Publications Office at (202) 261-5687.