EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 2 PM EST -June 8, 1999

Contact: Sarah Ellis, (303) 315-5571

Study Establishes Link Between Child Care, School Success

By second grade, a child's readiness and success in school is linked to the quality of child care received in preschool, according to a four-state study of 800 preschool children. Results of the study, started in 1993, were released today in Washington, D.C.

The "Cost, Quality and Outcomes" study looked at the cost and quality of early child care and early learning, and how these factors relate to children's development and school readiness. Researchers from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, UCLA and Yale University took part in the study, which followed the children from age four through the second grade.

"This study shows that the quality of child care is a predictor of academic performance and successful social skills," said Mary Culkin, PhD, assistant research professor in the CU School of Nursing at the CU-Health Sciences Center and a principal investigator. "Child care classroom practice and the nature of the relationship between children and teachers have an enormous impact on a child's development."

About 74 percent of 3- to 5-year olds, or 6.8 million preschoolers, are in child care on a regular basis.

The study shows that young children receiving poor quality child care were less prepared for school and tended to have less success in the early school years than do those students who received high quality care. In fact, children who may be considered at risk for poor school performance were more affected by the quality of child care experiences.

"Quality child care lowers the risk of low school performance that might be expected of children who are otherwise at-risk," Culkin said. "Access to a child care setting that includes a focus on developing cognitive skills and social relationships actually benefits at-risk children to a greater degree."

In the first part of the study, released in 1995, researchers found that poor quality child care interfered with children's emotional and intellectual development. The previous study noted the variables related to quality child care, including student-to-staff ratios, staff education and administrative experience, as well as the relationship between licensing requirements and quality.

The overall findings of the current study were that:

* High quality child care is an important element in achieving the national goal of having all children ready to learn when they come to school. Children who attended higher quality child care centers scored higher on measures of both cognitive and social skills in child care and through the transition into school.

* High quality child care continues to positively predict children's performance well into their school careers. The analysis indicated that the quality of child continues to affect children's development at least through kindergarten and in many cases, through the end of second grade. Child care quality was related to basic cognitive skills (language and math) and children's social skills, both of which are important factors in children's ability to take advantage of the opportunities available in school.

* Children who have traditionally been at risk for not doing well in school are affected more by the quality of child care experiences than other children. For some outcomes (math skills and problem behaviors), children whose mothers had lower levels of education were more sensitive to the negative effects of poor quality child care or received more benefits from high quality child care.

* The quality of child care classroom practices was related to children's cognitive development, while the nature of the preschool teacher-child relationship influenced children's social development through the early school years.

The study includes a number of recommendations for child care policymakers at both the national and state levels:

* Recent attempts by states to provide preschool care and education experiences for children are well founded and should be expanded. Greater levels of investment - on the part of both public and private sectors - in early childhood care and education programs are needed to provide high quality services to all children who need them.

* Child care policies at both the federal and state levels should be revised to encourage higher quality programs.

* Child care subsidy systems can be redesigned to provide incentives for providing high quality care.

* Tax incentives can encourage use of higher quality care and education.

* Training of teachers who work in early care and education settings must be improved.

A complete, embargoed copy of the Executive Summary of the report can be accessed via the Internet at http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~NCEDL/PAGES/cq.htm on Friday, June 4th.

This research project was funded by grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the William T. Grant Foundation, the JFM Foundation, the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the USWEST Foundation, one anonymous foundation, and the Educational Research and Development Centers Programs as administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, PR/Award Number R307A60004, US Department of Education.

Contents do not necessarily represent the positions of policies of the National Institute of Early Childhood Development and Education, the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, the US Department of Education, or any other sponsoring organization.

The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center is one of four campuses in the University of Colorado system. Located in Denver, Colo., the campus includes schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and dentistry, a graduate school and two hospitals.

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