Universities Childrens Policy Collaborative

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Universities Childrens Policy Collaborative

• Research team for the Governors Task Force on
  Early Childhood Care
• and Education

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Collaborative Members

• Penn State
• Prevention Research Center Mark Greenberg
• Early Childhood Training Institute Rick Fiene
• Temple University
• Center For Public Policy Anne Shlay
• Center for Improving Research for Childrens
  Lives (CIRCL) - Marsha Weinraub
• University of Pittsburgh
• Office of Child Development - Chris Groark and
  Bob McCall
• Director of Policy Initiatives Bob Nelkin

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Need for more information

• What are the effects of nonparental care on young
  children and their families?
• What characteristics of nonparental care make for
  quality care?
• How many children are using nonparental care in
  PA?
• What kinds of care are they using?
• What is the quality of the care available to
  them?
• How can we provide the best services to PAs
  families and children at a fair cost?

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2002 PROJECTS

• From Science to Policy Review of Issues,
  Programs and Policies
• PA Family Survey
• PA Higher Education Survey
• PA Early Care and Education Provider Survey
• PA Early Childhood Quality Settings Study

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What does the research show?

• Lets start with the review of previous research,
  what we call, Best practices.

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First, child care does not threaten family
influence

• Whether children are in many hours of child care
  or none at all, family influences remain high.
• Children in nonparental child care do not show
  lower or more insecure attachment to their
  mothers than children not in nonparental child
  care.

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Second, low quality care is risky for children.

• Poor quality programs are related to
• Lower school readiness and school achievement
• Increased risk for behavioral problems

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Third, while child care quality is sometimes low,
high quality care can make a difference
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Quality Early Childhood Programs for
Low-income Children

• Promote school readiness and school performance
• Higher math scores and school achievement
• Less grade retention,
• Reduced use of special education
• Higher graduation rates
• Increased employment after graduation
• Less use of welfare after graduation
• Reduce antisocial behavior
• Fewer behavioral problems
• Less delinquency and crime

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Critical Components of Quality

• High general teacher education and specific
  training of staff
• Low child-teacher ratios and small groups
• Child-directed, developmentally appropriate
  practices
• Standards, monitoring (Head Start)
• Adequate compensation for teachers

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What Does Quality Cost?

• About the same as public school
• 6,000 and 13,000/year.
• Good quality programs return in benefits to
  society 4 - 7 times their total costs.
• Costs 10 - 30 more to raise quality from current
  levels.
• Quality may be a worthwhile investment.

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Are Pennsylvanias families using early care and
education services?

• Yes, more than 43 of children are in care 20
  hours or more per week starting from a young age.
• More than 60 of children under age 3 are already
  in some type of non family care, up from
  approximately 25 in 1980s.

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Do Pennsylvania families need additional services?

• Yes, relatively few children are in care
  facilities that emphasize education.
• Although 75 of 3 to 4 year-olds are nonparental
  care on a regular basis,
• Fewer than half are in some kind of centers or
  preschools.
• Low income children and children from lower
  educated parents are less likely to be in
  educational settings than their more advantaged
  peers.

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Percent of 3 and 4 Year Olds in Different Types
of Educational Programs
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What Do Parents Want?

• Most parents want more information about child
  development.
• Low-income and less educated parents are most
  concerned about school readiness issues and want
  more resources, possibly even home visitors, to
  help them be better parents.

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Percent of parents who are often or all the
time concerned about issues related to their
childs development
100
Families Below 200 of FPIG
Families Above 200 of FPIG
80
60
Percentage of Respondents
40
20
0
Learning Enough in Child Care
Age Appropriate Behavior
Discipline/ Limit Setting
Childs Health
Being Reading Ready
Parental Concerns
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But PA families need financial help to get
quality care

• Full-fee annual cost is 6,000-7,500
• Starting teacher salary, centers/preschools
  17,250.
• Parent fees only pay estimated 69 of providers
  total budget, but low-income families devote
  7-18 of their monthly income to early care and
  education
• Cost is one factor that prevents low-income
  families from using educationally beneficial
  services.
• Only 14 receive financial assistance of any
  kind.
• Only one half of families eligible for government
  subsidies use them.
• Unless lower-income families are subsidized, they
  often get lower quality care or none at all.

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Most parents think government should have
responsibility in helping children become
reading-ready (see blue)
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The PA Early Childhood Quality Settings Study
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Quality Study Sample

• Head Start 50
• Preschool 48
• Child Care Centers 111
• Group Child Care Homes 46
• Family Child Care Homes 109
• Relative/Neighbor Care 8
• TOTAL 372

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How the Study Measured Quality

• ECERS-R
• Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale
• FDCRS
• Family Day Care Rating Scale
• Ratings
• Poor- 2.9 and below
• Minimal 3.0-3.9
• Adequate 4.0-4.9
• Good 5.0-5.9
• Excellent 6.0-6.9

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Mean ECERS/FDCRS Score By Type of Setting

• Head Start 4.9 Good
• Preschool 4.3 Adequate
• Child Care Centers 3.9 Minimal
• Group Homes 4.1 Adequate
• Family Homes 3.9 Minimal
• Relative/Neighbor 3.7 Minimal

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Mean ECERS/FDCRS Scores by Education of the
Provider

• High School Diploma (24) 3.8
• Some College (24) 4.1
• Associates Degree (17) 4.2
• Bachelors Degree (31) 4.3
• Masters Degree (4) 4.7

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Individuals with college degrees provide a
much higher level of quality than individuals
with a high school diploma

• But in Pennsylvania
• Only 58 of teachers have degrees in preschool
• 39 have degrees in Head Start
• 22 have degrees in Centers
• 18 have degrees in Home-based

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Mean ECERS/FDCRS Scores and Utilizing A
Curriculum

• ECERS/FDCRS
• Yes (47) 4.4
• No (53) 3.9

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Accreditation is related to improved quality

• According to our Pennsylvania data
• Accredited programs scored .71 on the Quality
  Index.
• Programs seeking accreditations scored .59.
• Programs not seeking and not accredited scored
  .55.
• Therefore, its likely that emphasizing
  accreditation and adoption of the new Keystone
  Stars program PA may help improve quality.

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ECERS/FDCRS 1990-2002
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So What Do We Do?

• Need incentives to attract good people
• Improved salaries and benefits
• Incentives to work and stay in Pennsylvania
  (e.g., contingent loan forgiveness)

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Comprehensive Training

• Need broad-based training and services including
  working with special needs children
• 71 of center-based programs expelled or
  threatened to expel a child for aggressiveness in
  last two years
• Nearly all centers have at least one child with
  special needs

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For Early Childhood Services The future
may be now

• The need is great.
• Research shows that use of child care does not
  diminish the familys effect on children or
  childrens attachments to their parents.
• Quality is crucial it does not cost much more
  than custodial care and it appears to be a good
  investment.
• If theres the will, theres a way.
• Science knows the way now its up to
  Pennsylvanias will.