Estimates of Children in Middle Class Families Struggling to Afford Early Education and Care

A new study finds that the relationship between pre-k teacher education levels and classroom quality depends on the classroom's surrounding environment, such as the type of agency it is part of and the leadership of the agency.

The study examined 279 early education classrooms in diverse settings (e.g., Head Start, nonprofit private agencies, state-sponsored programs in child care centers and public schools) in an urban county in California. All programs served primarily four year olds. The researchers found that teachers with a bachelor's degree and specialization in early childhood education had higher quality classrooms when they were located in Head Start, child care centers, and private nonprofit settings, but not in public school-based classrooms. The researchers suggest that teacher education seems to be more important in community-based settings because teachers typically have less resources and support in these environments than in public schools.

The report also noted that the higher the credentials of the teacher, the more the program directors' qualifications mattered in terms of classroom quality. Teachers with relatively low levels of education tended to have classrooms of lower quality, no matter what the qualifications of their directors were. However, for teachers with higher levels of education, classroom quality improved significantly as the education levels of the program directors increased. This relationship was strongest among teachers with bachelor's degrees. These findings suggest that staffing patterns associated with the highest level of classroom quality entail lead teachers with bachelor's degrees and specialization in early childhood and a program director with similarly high education levels.

2. Studies call attention to young children in military families

A new RAND Corporation report on the military child care system finds that military families experience difficulties in finding and affording early education and care programs.

Fewer than half of all military families with children under the age of six receive subsidies from the Department of Defense (DoD). Those who cannot or choose not to participate in the military child care system receive no assistance from the DoD. There's also evidence that these difficulties are affecting the recruitment, retention, and performance of military personnel. Families with young children – especially those who use military-sponsored early education programs – are much more likely to consider leaving the military because of child care issues. Most of the mothers in these families also report missing work for similar issues. The report includes recommendations to address these problems.

Military families' access to high-quality pre-k programs is even more urgent in light of new findings ($) that children between the ages of three and five with a deployed parent are more likely than their peers (whose parents have not been deployed) to exhibit problem behaviors, which include both "internalizing" behaviors, such as anxiety and withdrawal, and "externalizing" behaviors, such as aggression and attention difficulties. Importantly, the study found that these symptoms among the children were not related to the non-deployed parent's own experience of stress or depression. Younger children did not experience these issues, perhaps because they are less aware of the absence of one of their parents.

More research is needed to ascertain how these behavioral issues affect homes and early education settings. Also, the applicability of the findings could be limited because of the small sample of children used in the study, all of whom were enrolled in centers at one Marine base. Bias could have played a role in the results in two ways. First, while all parents with young children were recruited to be in the study, participation was on a voluntary basis. Second, child care providers' awareness of the deployment status of the children's parents could also have biased their ratings of the children.

For additional information on how state pre-k programs can more effectively serve children from military families, visit the Pre-K Now website, where you'll find a brief and a report on the topic, as well as a state-by-state chart that details whether parents' military status is part of states' eligibility criteria for pre-k.

3. Website touts the economic power of early education

In these challenging economic times, it is helpful to remember that high-quality early education not only contributes to children's cognitive and social-emotional development; it also leads to economic benefits to families and communities. A new website from the Insight Center for Community Economic Development makes this argument by compiling publications on policy and research, providing links to relevant organizations, and creating state profiles that include information on recent legislative action on early education, key stakeholders in the state, and potential economic messages for advocacy efforts. Thus far, the website has profiled 24 states and the District of Columbia.

4. Benefits of pre-k experience can spill over to peers

A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research examines whether children's participation in early education programs – defined as any center or school-based program, including Head Start – has any impact on their peers' cognitive and non-cognitive development in kindergarten and early elementary grades.

Using data from about 13,000 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort dataset, the researchers found that children's reading and math scores at the end of kindergarten are significantly associated with the proportion of peers in their class who participated in early education programs. Furthermore, third grade test scores have a similar relationship with early education enrollment, although to a lesser degree. Teachers' ratings of children's behaviors and interpersonal skills at the end of kindergarten, however, were not related to enrollment patterns. By taking into account variables about the children (e.g., race, gender), the classroom (e.g., teacher's education and experience, class size), parents (e.g., employment status, educational attainment), home environment (e.g., income, family size, home language, educational materials and activities), and children's test scores at kindergarten entry, the researchers were able to increase their confidence that the gains they observed were related to early education enrollment patterns rather than characteristics related to the children, their parents, or their teachers.

The study suggests that increasing access to pre-k benefits not only those who enroll in the program; it also benefits their peers during the elementary school years. For instance, children who are more prepared for kindergarten could contribute to a more focused learning environment for everyone. Therefore, by ignoring peer effects, researchers could be underestimating the cognitive gains from participating in pre-k programs. Specifically, the researchers estimate that peer effects increase the impact of pre-k on later test scores by as much as 25 percent.

5. Conference offers resources for working with young children with special needs

Presentations and resources from the Eighth Annual National Early Childhood Inclusion Institute, sponsored by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, are available online. Researchers and practitioners came together to share different strategies and models for integrating young children with special needs in early childhood settings such as pre-k classrooms and child care centers. Workshops focused on such topics as early literacy, challenging behaviors, curriculum development, financing, and family support. The conference also highlighted models from states including California, Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia.

6. Policy brief highlights transportation challenges

A new brief (PDF) from the CAYL Institute calls to attention the importance of transportation in early education systems. The brief summarizes policies in Massachusetts that enhance access to transportation services for families who enroll their children in state-funded pre-k and other early childhood programs. It identifies a number of challenges that are preventing the state from reaching more families, including low reimbursement rates for the service, the high cost associated with insurance and regulations, and restrictions on distance and time spent on buses. The brief also includes policy recommendations and a short review of the evidence that the availability of transportation affects families' participation in pre-k and early education programs.

7. A strategy for developing early education facilities

Even though well-designed early education facilities are critical to high-quality teaching and learning, they are often in short supply, especially in low-income communities. A brief from the Opportunity Finance Network discusses the financial and technical challenges that early education providers face in developing such facilities and the role that nonprofit "community development financial institutions" can play to overcome these barriers. The brief also calls on the federal government to play a more active role in increasing investments in this area.

8. Lessons learned from quality rating and improvement systems

The use of a QRIS, or quality rating and improvement system, to enhance early childhood programs' capacity to improve and to increase parents' awareness of program quality has spread across the country in the past 10 years. Currently, 36 states are implementing some form of QRIS. A RAND Corporation report has profiled five of the first QRIS initiatives implemented in Colorado, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania to glean lessons from their successes and challenges thus far. The report details the decisions and politics that these states had to weigh and consider as they engage in the range of activities that go into the design and implementation of a QRIS, including:

• Setting goals for the system and standards on which programs will be judged;

• Determining incentives for programs to participate and rewards for them if they meet the quality standards (and consequences if they don't);

• Assessing programs' performance against the QRIS standards and providing resources to support continuous improvement; and

• Making sure that the system rates programs fairly and accurately and that it has the intended impact on services provided to children and families.

Throughout these processes, states have to constantly balance what research and experience say about program quality and what is feasible and practical for the providers and the administrators of the QRIS. For instance, setting standards that are too high might discourage programs from participating in the initiative. Also, some states did not include parent involvement as an indicator of quality, not because they didn’t think it was important but because they didn’t think that they could measure it accurately. Finally, while some states are aware that more frequent observations of programs will lead to more accurate assessments, they have to balance resources for these activities with those needed for coaching and support to further program improvement or for incentives and rewards to motivate providers.

The report offers a number of recommendations, including:

• More research needs to be done on the impact of a QRIS on child outcomes.

• Implement pilots first and make changes accordingly before expanding statewide.

• Integrate licensing into the system, but not accreditation.

• A QRIS should aim for the highest standards but have enough levels to encourage participation and make progress attainable.

• Use classroom quality assessments to determine needed improvement efforts rather than to determine funding decisions – especially for programs with lower ratings.

• Program assessors should not be the ones providing coaching and support to providers.

On the last point, a small study of coaches from a pilot QRIS shows that simply providing coaches is not sufficient. Even if they are early childhood experts, coaching demands a different set of skills such as group facilitation, conflict resolution, and change management. Also, coaches are more successful when programs have effective leaders who have bought into the improvement process. Coaches in the study were also challenged by the lack of financial resources to implement changes and working with staff with low education levels who had more immediate, personal needs to be addressed before they fully engaged in discussions and reflections about their practices.

9. Resources provide guidance for serving young English Language Learners

A new paper (PDF) from the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition summarizes research on best practices in preparing young English Language Learners (ELLs) for school. Among some of the major points are the following:

• A home environment that is supportive of first-language acquisition is important because reading ability in one's native language is a stronger predictor of second-language reading ability than oral fluency in the second language.

• ELLs are not only less likely to be enrolled in early education programs; they and their families are also less likely to receive various forms of healthcare services such as prenatal care, vaccinations, and health insurance. However, ELLs who participate in early education programs are more likely to receive these services.

• Teachers' use of children's first language in the classroom does not impede English acquisition. In fact, these teachers tend to have more interactions and closer relationships with ELLs than teachers who are not fluent in the child's home language.

The paper also provides an overview of demographic data on this group of children.

For more about young children from language minority backgrounds, check out the November issue of the Zero To Three Journal, which is dedicated to the topic of children of immigrants. Topics include health outcomes, language development, access to public assistance, mental health care, and impact of immigration enforcement strategies on these families and their children.

10. Seminar explores challenges to research on long-term impacts

In October, the Partnership for America’s Economic Success (PAES) brought 30 researchers together to discuss the major gaps in knowledge regarding the long-term impacts of early childhood programs. Topics discussed included estimating future impacts in the absence of longitudinal data, understanding the causes of impacts on children when they experience multiple programs or services, and strategies to encourage decision makers to base policy decisions on rigorous research and evaluations. Presentations and notes from the meeting are available on the PAES website.

11. Policy updates available from NAEYC and NGA

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Governors Association (NGA) have provided summaries of recent developments in state-level early childhood policies. NAEYC compiled (PDF) states' legislative action and appropriations from the 2008 session for such policy areas as pre-k, child care, professional development, early childhood special education, home visiting, and birth-to-five systems building. NGA reports (PDF) on the progress that 12 states are making to develop early childhood advisory councils, which are required by the latest Head Start reauthorization.

12. Organizations offer blueprints for building professional development systems

States focused on building and improving their early childhood professional development systems have two new resources for guidance. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) just released a blueprint (PDF) for the major components of such systems: professional standards, career pathways, articulation, advisory structure, data, and financing. The report discusses how states should design policies around each of the above areas so that they adhere to four core principles: quality; integration with other policies and with all sectors of the early childhood field (e.g., child care, Head Start, pre-k); diversity of programs and staff; and compensation parity. The report also provides examples of legislation and regulations that states have put into place. A more comprehensive database of these policies is available on NAEYC's website.

A new paper (PDF) from the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education highlights the lack of coordination among early childhood professional development systems (including teacher training and preparation and ongoing professional development activities), QRIS initiatives, and states’ policies regarding core competencies for early childhood professionals. There is also a general lack of research on how policies in the above three areas help early childhood providers meet the states’ early learning standards for young children and, ultimately, lead to improvements in child development outcomes. Based on these observations, the paper offers a process by which states can more effectively link core competencies, professional development experiences, and QRIS efforts to improve program quality.

13. Study examines relationship between child care subsidies and child development

A study of 2,800 children with single mothers from the ECLS-K dataset found that children who received subsidized care during the year before kindergarten scored lower on reading, math, and behavioral assessments in kindergarten than those who had non-subsidized care, either at home or at a center or school. In their analysis, the researchers took into account a host of key factors to increase their confidence that the differences they observed were related to use of child care subsidies rather than other differences among the children, families, homes, and neighborhoods that could influence child outcomes. These results do not mean that participation in child care, per se, is related to lower performance in kindergarten. Rather, based on other studies, the researchers suggest that children who receive subsidies are more likely to receive less stable and lower quality care, which put them at a disadvantage.

Because this study was limited to children with single mothers, it is unclear whether the findings would be similar for children with two-parent families.