The Child Care HOME Inventories: assessing the quality of family child care homes

Versions of the HOME Inventory for use in family child care homes are described. The Infant/Toddler version is designed for use when children are less than 3 years old; the Early Childhood version for children ages 3–6. Psychometric characteristics of the child care versions of HOME are similar to the psychometric characteristics found for the original HOME used to measure the family environment. Child Care HOME scores were strongly related to intensive observational measures of behavior among child care providers and to measures of physical and organizational aspects of the environment. Because the inventories take less time and training to administer than most current measures of family child care, they may provide a way for licensing workers and others responsible for maintaining quality in child care to obtain useful information about this widely used but minimally monitored form of non-parental care.     

A Two-State Study of Family Child Care Engagement in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

ABSTRACT

Research Findings. The current study is a mixed-methods investigation of family child care provider participation in voluntary Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) in 2 states. Study 1 is an analysis of matched QRIS and child care licensing administrative data extracted from both states in May, 2014. Poverty and population density variables were added to the dataset by aligning U.S. Census data and Rural Urban Commuting Area codes (RUCA) to the matched state child care data. Participation patterns differed in the 2 states relative to provider characteristics (subsidy receipt, years licensed, and location). Study 2 consists of focus groups with participating (n = 22) and non-participating (n = 19) providers. Professionalism and financial incentives emerged as significant in attracting family child care providers to QRIS. Although family child care providers identified several clear benefits to QRIS, many more challenges emerged that negatively impact their participation. Practice or Policy. As most states are employing a QRIS framework to integrate quality improvement efforts, perspectives from this sector of early care and education are often overlooked. Study findings suggest that QRIS can be more responsive and effective with family child care providers if more consideration of their unique features are considered in systems design and implementation.     

Making sense of children's sexual behavior in child care: An analysis of adult responses in special investigation reports

This paper investigates how adults respond to sexual behavior among children in child care. Culturally, childhood sexuality is variously understood as natural curiosity, a sign of sexual abuse, or a symptom of a sex-offender in the making. Given these competing cultural meanings, how are sexual-like behaviors by children managed by the adults who care for them? An analysis of qualitative data from Special Investigation Reports by childcare licensing consultants in the state of Michigan is used to examine how parents, child care providers, and child care licensing consultants manage and respond to sexual behavior between children in the context of child care. How sexual behavior is responded to depends primarily on who is doing the responding – parent, childcare provider, or state licensing consultant – rather than what type of behavior is being responded to. Parents respond to a wide range of behaviors between children as if they are incidents of sexual abuse. Childcare providers respond to many of those same incidents as misbehavior. Licensing consultants understand these incidents as violation of rules of supervision, but they were also the only group to ever ask if children's sexual behavior was potentially a sign of a child having been sexually abused in another setting. Providers and parents need more education about what kinds of sexual behavior to be concerned about and what kind to understand as common. More education that sexuality that is “rare” and persistent could be a sign of sexual abuse is needed by all parties.     

The effect of education on child care teachers' beliefs and classroom quality: Year one evaluation of the TEACH early childhood associate degree scholarship program

This study examined the effect of community college coursework on the beliefs and on the classroom practices of teachers in child care centers. Thirty-four teachers participated; 19 were teachers who had received scholarships to attend community college programs in child development and in early childhood education, and 15 were comparison teachers. At the time of pretesting, all participants had high school diplomas and some inservice training. At posttest, the scholarship teachers had completed at least 12–20 credit hr of community college coursework. Results revealed that the classrooms of the program participants had made significant gains on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales (ECERS) or the Infant-Toddler Environment Rating Scales (ITERS) and the Teacher Belief Scale between the pre-and posttest and were also more developmentally appropriate, as measured by the ECERS or the ITERS, than the comparison teachers at the time of posttest. The findings are discussed in relation to professional development in the early childhood field.     

Not Babysitting: Work Stress and Well-Being for Family Child Care Providers

Family child care providers contend with a number of work stressors related to the dual roles of operating a small business and providing child care in their home. Research has documented many sources of work related stress for family child care providers; however, research examining family child care providers’ experiences outside of the lens of quality of care and child outcomes is dated and scant. This study consisted of three focus groups of 11 family child care providers who shared their perspectives on work related stressors and well-being. Many of the study findings were congruent with previous research in the field; however, a key finding in this study was the importance of family child care providers to assert and establish a professional identity to mitigate work related stress. Recommendations and strategies to assist family child providers in constructing a professional identity are discussed.     

Food Safety Training Needs of Child Care Providers

Millions of children are cared for in child care centers or family day care homes. The care environment can be a significant source of foodborne pathogens if proper food safety practices are not followed by caregivers. To decrease children's risk of foodborne illness, caregivers must know and apply safe food handling practices. To identify what care providers need to know about safe food handling, and how they want to learn, needs assessment research was conducted with a random sample of child care centers and family day care homes in Michigan (n=335). Research Findings. Results indicate that persons who care for young children in licensed centers or homes wanted to know more about the relationship between food and illness. Specifically, they wanted information about what causes food to become unsafe and how to prevent foodborne illness in the child care environment. Providers in both centers and homes preferred print materials (booklets, fact sheets, and newsletters) to videotapes, audiotapes, workshops, teleconferences, or an informational hotline. Implications for Practice. Developing and providing food safety booklets, newsletters, and/or fact sheets which include application-oriented and understand- able food safety information consistent with licensing regulations could reduce the risk of contracting foodborne illness of young children cared for in child care centers or day care homes.     

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.     

Family child care in four Midwestern states: Multiple measures of quality and relations to outcomes by licensed status and subsidy program participation

Quality of family child care in four Midwestern states was examined using four measures designed to assess structural and/or process quality to determine if dimensions converge or vary across types of family child care (licensed and license-exempt/registered) and subsidy receipt (programs serving children whose care is paid by subsidies and programs not serving subsidized children). Two instruments designed specifically for use with family child care that measure both structural and process quality were used (Family Day Care Rating Scale and Quality Instrument for Informal Child Care), as well as one instrument measuring process quality (Caregiver Interaction Scale) and one instrument measuring structural quality (Midwest Child Care Assets Index). The two instruments designed to measure both structural and process quality in family child care were highly correlated with each other, while both of these were moderately correlated with the measure of process quality. The measure of structural quality was not significantly correlated with the measure of process quality. Licensed family child care homes scored higher than license-exempt/registered family child care homes on three of the four measures (all but the Caregiver Interaction Scale), and family child care homes receiving child care subsidies scored lower than those not receiving subsidies on three of the four measures (all but the Assets Index).     

Food Safety Training Needs of Child Care Providers

Millions of children are cared for in child care centers or family day care homes. The care environment can be a significant source of foodborne pathogens if proper food safety practices are not followed by caregivers. To decrease children's risk of foodborne illness, caregivers must know and apply safe food handling practices. To identify what care providers need to know about safe food handling, and how they want to learn, needs assessment research was conducted with a random sample of child care centers and family day care homes in Michigan (n=335). Research Findings. Results indicate that persons who care for young children in licensed centers or homes wanted to know more about the relationship between food and illness. Specifically, they wanted information about what causes food to become unsafe and how to prevent foodborne illness in the child care environment. Providers in both centers and homes preferred print materials (booklets, fact sheets, and newsletters) to videotapes, audiotapes, workshops, teleconferences, or an informational hotline. Implications for Practice. Developing and providing food safety booklets, newsletters, and/or fact sheets which include application-oriented and understand- able food safety information consistent with licensing regulations could reduce the risk of contracting foodborne illness of young children cared for in child care centers or day care homes.     

Child care for children with and without disabilities: The provider,observer, and parent perspectives

This three-phase study, part of a larger study conducted by the Midwest Child Care Research Consortium (MCCRC), investigated the characteristics of child care providers in inclusive and non-inclusive center-based classrooms and family child care homes, the observed quality of care in a subset of these programs, and families’ perceptions of quality and satisfaction with child care services. A telephone survey of 2022 randomly selected Midwestern providers, 36% of whom provided inclusive services, revealed that inclusive providers rated themselves higher on most quality-related indicators. Inclusion status was related to observed quality in family childcare homes (n = 132), with non-inclusive homes higher, while trends in the opposite direction were observed in preschool center-based classrooms (n = 112) but not in infant/toddler center-based classrooms (n = 105). Six percent of the 1325 parents surveyed reported parenting a child with a disability. These parents indicated less income, and more frequent changes in child care settings than other families, and reported the quality of their children's child care as good, particularly if center-based. Improved access to inclusive child care services and enhanced training opportunities related to serving children with disabilities and inclusion, especially for family child care providers, is recommended.     

Biases in quality attribution to mother-child and caregiver-child interaction

Participants (N = 141) rated videotaped dyadic adult-child interactions on dimensions of quality. Participants who were informed that they were viewing mother-child dyads rated the quality of interactions differently than participants who believed they were watching unrelated care provider-child dyads. “Mothers” were judged more harshly than “providers” in the bad and mixed quality segments but not in the good quality segments. Questionnaires completed by the participants revealed that participants' sex and own child care experiences influenced attitudes toward child care and maternal employment but did not influence quality ratings. Potential explanations for the biases in quality attribution to maternal and non-maternal care providers and the possible invalidity of attitude questionnaires in the detection of these biases are discussed.     

Does training make a difference to quality in family child care?

The purpose of this study was to determine which family child care providers seek training, which providers drop out of training, and the effects of training on the quality of care offered by providers. One-hundred thirty family child care providers in three communities who enrolled in Family-to-Family training participated in the study. A comparison group consisted of 112 regulated providers in those same communities who were not involved in the training program under investigation. Each provider was observed for 3 hrs, was interviewed, and completed questionnaires. Providers in training were observed prior to training and 6 months afterwards. Results revealed that providers who sought training were very similar to typical regulated providers. Providers who dropped out of training were less experienced and used fewer business and safety practices than providers who completed it. Training increased global quality in two out of three sites, but did not affect process quality. Of 95 providers, 18 made observable (as opposed to statistically significant) improvements in quality following training, and 9 decreased in quality. These data are interpreted with respect to family child care training policies and practices.     

Engaging With Quality Improvement Initiatives: A Descriptive Study of Learning in the Complex and Dynamic Context of Everyday Life for Family Child Care Providers

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: This article reports on family child care providers’ views about their engagement with professional development programs, including providers who were and were not participating in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems in Los Angeles, California. Most providers participating in the study were taking active steps to improve their work with children, but only a few providers described themselves as satisfied with the programs available. First, we report on why providers chose to engage (or not) in formal professional development activities; specifically, we explore the relationship between career phase and engagement and the levels of participation reported by seasoned providers. Second, we describe the way many providers strategically self-customized their quality improvement (QI) activities by drawing flexibly on available programs or by finding a coach who would work with them on their specific needs. Practice or Policy: Our findings suggest that in order to increase engagement with formal QI systems, designers of professional development supports must better align these supports with the needs and interests of family child care providers in terms of content and modes of delivery. We propose the concept of just-in-time professional development as 1 way to make QI offerings more responsive to some family child care providers’ needs.     

Cooperative versus competitive educational psychology classrooms: A comparative study

Four introductory educational psychology classrooms were differentially taught, three with a cooperative (ns = 30, 36, and 31) and the other an individually competitive (n = 40) goal structure. A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA design was used to examine pre- and posttest (time) learning by treatments within subjects. The four groups were not found to be significantly different from each other on the pretest. All four groups obtained significant (p < 0.001) gains on their posttest scores as contrasted with their pretest scores. While a statistically significant interaction between treatment groups and time was obtained, no significant differences were encountered among the four groups' posttest scores. Affective differences were obtained among the four groups indicating significantly more negative perceptions being associated with the individually competitive as contrasted with the three cooperative groups. The data suggest that while significant achievement gains were obtained by all three goal structures, students have a much more negative experience with the individually competitive and prefer a cooperative goal structure.     

The Effectiveness of the Geospatial Curriculum Approach on Urban Middle-Level Students’ Climate Change Understandings

Climate change science is a challenging topic for student learning. This quantitative study examined the effectiveness of a geospatial curriculum approach to promote climate change science understandings in an urban school district with eighth-grade students and investigated whether teacher- and student-level factors accounted for students’ climate change knowledge achievement. The participants included 12 science teachers and 956 eighth-grade students. Data included a pre- and posttest climate change assessment measures for both teachers and students and a teacher measure of Geospatial Science-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Paired-sample t tests revealed statistically significant gains from pretest to posttest on their climate change knowledge (p < .001; effect sizes being large on multiple-choice items and medium on the open-ended response assessment). Both ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression and 2-level hierarchical linear modeling found that students’ initial climate change knowledge and gender were significant predictors for students’ posttest scores, p < .05. Students’ pretest scores were the strongest significant predictor of the posttest scores, p < .001. Neither the teachers’ climate change knowledge nor their Geospatial Science-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge had significant association with the students’ posttest scores. Teaching years was a significant predictor for students’ posttest scores in OLS regression (p < .001). The findings provide support that a geospatial curriculum approach is an effective science curriculum approach for learners in urban middle-level education.     

Disentangling the effect of out-of-home care on child mental health

BackgroundChildren in out-of-home care are consistently found to have poor mental health compared to children in the general population. However, UK research has so far failed to disentangle the impact of the care system on children’s mental health outcomes from the effects of the adverse circumstances that led to their admission to care.ObjectiveThis research investigated the association between care placement and the presence of child mental health problems after controlling for children’s pre-care experiences. It also identified factors associated with mental health problems among children in care.Participants and SettingThe sample comprised three groups of children involved with child welfare services due to maltreatment, including children in out-of-home care (n = 122), reunified children (n = 82) and those who had never been in care (n = 159).MethodsThe mental health of the children in the three groups was compared, using information collected from their parents/foster carers and social workers.ResultsThe odds of a child in out-of-home care having a mental health problem were not significantly higher than those of a child who had never been in care (AOR = 1.24; p = 0.462). However, the odds of a child in out-of-home care having reactive attachment disorder (RAD) were significantly higher than those of a child who had never been in care (AOR=1.92; p = 0.032).ConclusionsThese findings make an important contribution to international debates about whether placing children in care is beneficial or detrimental to their wellbeing, and highlight a range of inter-linking factors associated with the mental health of children in out-of-home care.     

The work–family support roles of child care providers across settings

This paper presents a qualitative investigation of the work–family support roles of a sample of 29 child care providers serving low-income families in the Chicago area (16 family, friend, and neighbor providers (FFN), 7 licensed family child care providers (FCC), and 6 center-based teachers). Providers report offering low-income parents substantial logistical (flexible hours, help with routines) and economic help (flexible fees, help with subsidies) managing work and family, in addition to their care of children. For FFN providers, support was often provided in the context of significant stress and burden. FCC providers and center-based teachers were often constrained in their help-giving by ambivalence regarding professional guidelines and institutional constraints. Findings from this study may inform future research on the effects of child care on children and parents, and models of child care quality.     

Observed Engagement as an Indicator of Child Care Program Quality

Research Findings. This study investigated the quality of child care programs based on what children do while they are in these programs. Observing engagement is one method of measuring the effects of child care environments. Engagement refers to the amount of time children spend interacting with the environment in a developmentally and contextually appropriate manner. Group engagement was measured by repeatedly counting the percentage of children engaged in child care classrooms from two different licensing levels. Results showed that engagement levels were related to independent measures of program quality. Furthermore, engagement levels differed as a function of licensing level. Policy Implications. Observation of group engagement is an effective and unique measure of program quality. The group engagement measure not only discriminates between levels of quality; it focuses directly on child behavior and child experience offering a much- needed supplement to global and teacher-related measures. Observation of group engagement is both uncomplicated and expeditious, making it an ideal measure for use by licensing personnel as well as child care staff.     

Observed Engagement as an Indicator of Child Care Program Quality

Research Findings. This study investigated the quality of child care programs based on what children do while they are in these programs. Observing engagement is one method of measuring the effects of child care environments. Engagement refers to the amount of time children spend interacting with the environment in a developmentally and contextually appropriate manner. Group engagement was measured by repeatedly counting the percentage of children engaged in child care classrooms from two different licensing levels. Results showed that engagement levels were related to independent measures of program quality. Furthermore, engagement levels differed as a function of licensing level. Policy Implications. Observation of group engagement is an effective and unique measure of program quality. The group engagement measure not only discriminates between levels of quality; it focuses directly on child behavior and child experience offering a much- needed supplement to global and teacher-related measures. Observation of group engagement is both uncomplicated and expeditious, making it an ideal measure for use by licensing personnel as well as child care staff.