Implementation Lessons from Six Early Head Start - Child Care Partnerships

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: This study examined the development and implementation of six Early Head Start Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCPs), unique collaborations between EHS grantees and community-based child care partners that expand access to high-quality child care and comprehensive services for low-income infants, toddlers, and their families. Interviews and focus groups with 111 key informants identified similarities across the six EHS-CCPs in initial outreach to community partners for establishing partnerships and approaches to developing partnership agreements but variation in approaches to monitoring quality improvement activities. Benefits and challenges to partnerships for programs and families were noted. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest a need for additional guidance for EHS-CCPs on key components of implementation, including the partnership agreement process, monitoring quality improvement plans, offering support for meeting program requirements, and providing comprehensive services. For example, five of the six partnerships reported the EHS grantee led the development of their partnership agreements. While this approach was attributed to child care partners’ lack of prior experience in developing agreements, further guidance on how to engage partners collaboratively in an agreement process that better emulates the principles of authenticity and equality from the conceptual framework for collaborations in early care and education would be useful.     

Providing High-Quality Support Services to Home-Based Child Care: A Conceptual Model and Literature Review

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Home-based child care accounts for a significant proportion of nonparental child care arrangements for young children in the United States. Yet the early care and education field lacks clear models or pathways for how to improve quality in these settings. The conceptual model presented here articulates the components of high-quality support to child care providers; related factors; and hypothesized provider, family, and child outcomes. The model is based on a literature review of research on home-based child care, home visiting, early childhood mental health consultation, coaching, and family services. We hypothesize that high-quality support to home-based child care that offers relationship-based services focused on quality caregiving (individual home visiting and group supports such as training and networking) and sustainability (materials, equipment, referrals) is most likely to positively impact quality caregiving for children and families. Practice or Policy: Current federal efforts and policy initiatives to increase the supply and quality of infant–toddler child care focus on the development of systems that support home-based providers. The conceptual model of high-quality support described here will inform future program development and research on how to improve quality in home-based child care for the millions of low-income children in these settings.     

Continuity of Care,Caregiver–Child Interactions,and Toddler Social Competence and Problem Behaviors

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Continuity of care is a recommended practice in child care intended to promote secure and supportive relationships between infants and toddlers and their caregivers. Toddlers (N = 115) between 12 and 24 months were observed in 30 continuity and 29 noncontinuity classrooms. The average duration of care for toddlers with caregivers was 14 months in the continuity rooms and 5 months in noncontinuity rooms. Toddlers observed in continuity rooms experienced higher levels of interactive involvement with their caregivers and were rated by their caregivers as having fewer problem behaviors compared with the toddlers in noncontinuity rooms. Toddlers in rooms with higher staff–child ratios also experienced more involved caregiving. We did not find evidence that the level of involved caregiving mediated the association between continuity of care and toddlers’ social competence or problem behaviors. Practice or Policy: Continuity of care may be a promising practice for programs that strive to provide high-quality care for infants and toddlers.     

Implementation of an Early Care and Education Partnership: Perspectives of Diverse Stakeholders

ABSTRACT

Communities are investigating new ways to expand access to high-quality early education. A new early care and education partnership initiative in a mid-Atlantic state offered publicly-funded preschool slots to eligible children in private early childhood programs and provided quality supports to participating private programs. This qualitative study examines the implementation of this partnership initiative from the perspectives of administrators, early childhood program staff, and family members of enrolled children. Researchers conducted 15 focus groups with these stakeholders across five communities and used a directed content analysis approach to analyze the data. Research Findings: The thematic findings from this study suggest that ECE partnerships can improve implementation processes by developing intentional communication plans and paying attention to the needs and preferences of early childhood program staff and families. The study findings also suggest that private programs may be able to counter the loss of preschool enrollment slots to public schools by participating in ECE partnerships. Practice and Policy: Policymakers may use these findings to inform the design of new ECE partnership initiatives or other initiatives that involve collaboration among early care and education programs. Practitioners may use these findings to inform planning for new partnerships they are engaged in.     

Home-Based Child Care Provider Education and Specialized Training: Associations With Caregiving Quality and Toddler Social-Emotional and Cognitive Outcomes

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Although there has been considerable research on the associations between the qualifications of teachers in center-based settings and preschool-age children’s developmental outcomes, very little is known about the relationships between home provider qualifications and the developmental outcomes of toddlers who attend licensed family child care settings or unregulated family, friend, and neighbor care settings. Analyzing a sample of toddlers and their providers drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, we found positive relationships between home-based quality and higher education degree (defined as an associate’s degree or at least a bachelor’s degree), field of major, and coursework in early childhood education or a related field. However, provider qualifications were unrelated to children’s cognitive outcomes and related to a limited number of social-emotional outcomes. Practice or Policy: Our results suggest that as states consider the spectrum of supports needed for strengthening home-based child care in ways that facilitate responsive and developmentally supportive caregiving, strategies should include opportunities for home-based care providers to pursue higher education. A more nuanced analysis of the content and comprehensiveness of providers’ formal education is needed to better understand relationships between toddlers’ social and cognitive development and providers’ formal education.     

The Instructional and Emotional Quality of Parent–Child Book Reading and Early Head Start Children's Learning Outcomes

Research Findings: The objective of this study was to understand how two dimensions of parent–child book-reading quality—instructional and emotional—interact and relate to learning in a sample of low-income infants and toddlers. Participants included 81 parents and their children from Early Head Start programs in the rural Midwest. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis that parental book-reading qualities interact and relate to children's concurrent cognitive and language scores. Exploratory analyses examined if patterns of relationships varied for families who had different home languages (i.e., English, Spanish). Results included that book-reading qualities and home language interacted to predict child scores. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest a need to further explore potentially complex patterns of relationships among parental book-reading behaviors and child learning for diverse families. Understanding these patterns could inform the development of culturally-sensitive intervention approaches designed to support high-quality shared book reading.     

Meeting Needs of Young Children at Risk for or Having a Disability

Poverty-related factors place children at higher risk for disabilities and also serve as barriers to families accessing services for their children and themselves. Early childhood practitioners can play a critical role in supporting families by providing services to overcome these obstacles and by working in partnership with specialized early intervention programs to assure the families and children receive those services. Families (N = 3,001) enrolled in the Early Head Start (EHS) Research and Evaluation Project were randomly assigned to the program group (who received EHS services) or the control group in a rigorous, experimental design study in order to evaluate program impacts. All participating families were living in poverty, included a pregnant woman or a child below age 1, and were eligible for EHS. The majority of children enrolled in the EHS Research and Evaluation Project was identified as having at least one of a great variety of disability indicators (e.g., family received Part C services, child has been diagnosed as having asthma). There was a very small number of families, however, actually enrolled in Part C services. Enrollment in EHS was associated with children being less likely to have cognitive or language delays and their families being more likely to receive early intervention (Part C) services and have Individualized Family Service Plans (IFSPs) when they needed them.     

Defining and Assessing Quality in Early Intervention Programs for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families: Challenges and Unresolved Issues

Historically, child care quality research has focused primarily on typically developing children cared for in center-based programs. Findings from this research suggests that variations in quality of care have an effect on children's well-being and developmental outcomes. In this paper, we draw on child care quality research to inform our understanding of quality in early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Conceptual issues in defining quality and methodological challenges for assessing quality of early intervention services are presented. In the final sections of this paper, we discuss our efforts to design a measure of quality for early intervention programs and present some of the unresolved issues related to the assessment of quality in early intervention programs.     

Threshold analysis of association between child care quality and child outcomes for low-income children in pre-kindergarten programs

Over the past five decades, the federal government and most states have invested heavily in providing publicly-funded child care and early education opportunities for 3- and 4-year-old children from low-income families. Policy makers and parents want to identify the level or threshold in quality of teacher–child interaction and intentional instruction related to better child outcomes to most efficiently use child care to improve school readiness. Academic and social outcomes for children from low-income families were predicted from measures of teacher–child interactions and instructional quality in a spline regression analysis of data from an 11-state pre-kindergarten evaluation. Findings suggested that the quality of teacher–child interactions was a stronger predictor of higher social competence and lower levels of behavior problems in higher than in lower quality classrooms. Further, findings suggested that quality of instruction was related to language, read and math skills more strongly in higher quality than in lower quality classrooms. These findings suggest that high-quality classrooms may be necessary to improve social and academic outcomes in pre-kindergarten programs for low-income children.     

The Role of Parent,Provider, and Child Characteristics in Parent–Provider Relationships in Infant and Toddler Classrooms

Research Findings: This study examined how characteristics of parents, providers, and children contribute to the quality of parent–provider relationships in infant and toddler classrooms. Parents (n = 192) and providers (n = 95) from 14 child care centers in a large metropolitan area participated by completing questionnaires about the nature of their relationships and communication, as well as other aspects of the child care experience. Although the study did not examine causal relations between variables, characteristics of parent–provider relationships were correlated with parents’ anxiety about placing their children in care, with providers’ knowledge of child development, and with whether parents and providers had worked together in the past. Parents’ views of their relationships with providers were more positive when they had worked with them before and when they were less anxious about placing their children in care. Providers who had worked with parents before had less favorable views of their relationships when parents were more anxious about placing their children in care; however, this was not the case when providers and parents were in more recent relationships. Providers who had never worked with parents before viewed relationships more positively when they had more knowledge of child development. The opposite was true for providers who had worked with parents before. Providers with more knowledge of child development reported communicating more frequently with parents. Providers reported communicating more frequently with parents of children with easier temperaments. Practice or Policy: Implications for transition practices in early care and education settings, in-service training, and teacher education programs are discussed.     

Parent–Child Book-Reading Styles,Emotional Quality,and Changes in Early Head Start Children’s Cognitive Scores

Research Findings: The objective of this study was to understand how instructional book-reading style and emotional quality of reading interact and relate to cognitive skills in a sample of at-risk infants and toddlers. Participants were 81 parents and their children participating in Early Head Start programs in the rural Midwest. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis that parental book-reading instructional style and emotional quality interact and relate to changes in children’s cognitive scores for culturally and linguistically diverse families. Results included that there were variations in how book-reading qualities interacted and related to changes in child cognitive scores for families whose primary home languages were either English or Spanish. Practice or Policy: The results of this study are discussed in conjunction with findings from a previous study published in this journal that examined concurrent relationships in the same sample of Early Head Start families. Combined, findings of these studies underscore a need to further explore potentially complex patterns of relationships among parental literacy behaviors and child knowledge, concurrently and across time, for culturally and linguistically diverse families. Better understanding these patterns could inform the development and implementation of culturally sensitive intervention approaches designed to support high-quality parent–child book reading.     

Subsidizing child care: How child care subsidies affect the child care used by low-income African American families

To evaluate the type and quality of child care used by low-income families who were either receiving or not receiving subsidized child care, we interviewed 111 African American parents from a randomly selected sample of low-income families. We inquired about their child-care use, satisfaction with care, work stress, and employment history. Using standardized assessment instruments, independent observers in the children's child-care setting evaluated the quality of the care and characteristics of the providers. We found that families using subsidized child care were more likely to use center care and other more formal types of care, while families not using subsidized child care were more likely to use a relative in the relative's home. Families using subsidized care tended to use licensed and registered child-care arrangements more than non-subsidized families. Also, subsidized families spent approximately half as much out-of-pocket money for child care. However, we found no evidence that the care used by families using subsidized care was of any higher quality than that used by non-subsidized families. We examine the possibility that child-care subsidy programs may not be adequately designed or funded to increase the availability of quality child care to low-income families. Educators and policy makers may want to consider additional means of increasing access to quality care in low-income families.     

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.     

A Mixed Methods Investigation of Maternal Perspectives on Transition Experiences in Early Care and Education

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Strong relationships among children, families, and early care and education (ECE) providers are key to quality infant–toddler care. These relationships are shaped during the initial transition period to group care. We used a mixed methods approach to (a) assess maternal perspectives on the transition to group care, (b) explore mothers’ perceptions of factors that made for easy or difficult transitions, and (c) examine associations between maternal and child characteristics and the ease of the transition. Through qualitative interviews, mothers identified factors that played a role in their child’s transition, including the child’s age, the ECE provider’s support, and the number of transitions the child experienced. For mothers, an easy transition was characterized by ease of child adjustment to group care, comfort with nonparental care and returning to work, and being able to exercise some control over the transition. Quantitative analyses revealed that an easy child transition was associated with younger child age, low maternal distress reactions to child distress, and low child social fearfulness. Higher maternal depressive symptoms and maternal distress reactions to child distress were associated with mothers having a difficult transition. Practice or Policy: Implications of the findings for ECE provider training and ECE policy development related to transitions are discussed.     

Characteristics of Early Care and Education Collaboration Associated with Success

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: In this non-experimental study, the research team analyzed data from a randomly selected sample of child care programs in Maryland and Vermont to understand what characteristics contribute to collaboration success. The team also examined the relationship between collaboration success and measures of child care program quality. We found positive correlations between collaboration success – defined as programs’ use of collaborative strategies, structural indicators of quality, and QRIS ratings – and programs’ collaboration administration and collaboration relationships. In addition, programs that used more collaboration strategies had higher ratings on the state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). Policy or Practice: Policies designed to encourage early childhood collaborations should support strong administrative processes among collaborators and provide specific guidance on building strong relationships among child care and early education administrators. Future research is needed to determine the causes of the associations. Research should focus on how policies can broaden the reach of federal and state programs that promote collaboration to include programs that have lower QRIS ratings or programs that opt out of these state systems.     

A national survey of educational preparation programs for early intervention specialists.

To examine the status of preprofessional education in early intervention, we conducted a nationwide survey of college and university programs offering degrees in education of the deaf. Curriculum content and practicum experiences with infants and toddlers and their families were examined, as well as general comments and recommendations of program directors. Additional information was sought from programs offering specializations at the preschool level to determine whether they had CED affiliation, and if so, whether they were certified in the areas of parent-infant education or early childhood education. The findings are discussed in the context of Public Law 99-457 and the growing emphasis on family centered early intervention.     

Neighborhood Characteristics,and Child Care Type and Quality

Research Findings: Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, this article relates neighborhood characteristics to the type of child care used in families with toddlers and preschoolers (N = 1,121; representative of children in Chicago in 1996–1998). Neighborhood structural disadvantage was assessed via U.S. Census data, and neighborhood processes (i.e., density of social networks, collective efficacy, and level of participation in neighborhood organizations) were accessed with a community survey. Child care decisions (i.e., whether they chose care in centers; child care homes by non-relative, by relatives, and exclusively by parents) and the quality of center child care (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale–Revised) were assessed in a longitudinal sample. After controlling for family characteristics, various neighborhood characteristics were related to child care characteristics. In communities with denser social networks, children were less likely to experience care in child care homes by unrelated adults. Children were more likely to be in child care homes and less likely to cared for by parents exclusively or by relatives when collective efficacy was higher. Center care quality was lower in disadvantaged neighborhoods and higher for publicly funded programs. Further, neighborhood structural disadvantage was more negatively related to quality when mothers had less education. Practice or Policy: These findings provide further evidence that public programs such as Head Start and public pre-kindergarten programs may be especially important to ensure that children living in poverty in disadvantaged neighborhoods have access to the types of child care that promote school readiness.     

Subsidized child care,maternal employment and access to quality,affordable child care

To examine whether state child care subsidy policies can combine goals of increasing maternal employment and increasing access to quality child care for children in low-income families, we studied one state's comprehensive policy, through a cross-sectional survey of 665 randomly selected families using centers, Head Starts, family child care homes, public school preschools or informal care, including a sample of families on the waitlist for child care subsidies. We found that, in Massachusetts, families receiving child care subsidies report greater access to child care, more affordable child care, and higher quality child care, than do similar families not receiving subsidies. Lower-income families not receiving subsidies can sometimes access affordable, quality child care through Head Start programs and public preschools, but, when they have to pay for care, they pay a significantly greater proportion of their income than do families receiving subsidies. We also found that families on the subsidy waitlist are at a particular disadvantage. Waitlist families have the greatest difficulty paying for care, the least access, and the poorest quality child care. While the child care subsidy policies benefited those families receiving subsidies, families outside the system still struggled to find and afford child care.     

Impact of a Statewide Collaborative on Strengthening Families Through Early Care and Education

Research Findings: Research suggests that early care and education programs are most effective when they include strong components of family involvement. The Center for the Study of Social Policy recommended that early care and education programs build family-centered practices to strengthen families and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect. This article summarizes a statewide effort to implement this strategy, called Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education. We analyzed program self-assessments submitted by 186 early care and education programs. Analyses revealed that Head Start programs had better support systems in place for families than did “mainstream” (non–Head Start, non-accredited) early care and education programs. Results also showed that a small amount of state and local funding provided enough incentive for programs to improve their family-strengthening practices. Commitment and collaboration at the state level led to a sustainable impact by infusing “strengthening families” concepts into the early care and education field statewide.