This meta-analysis studies the association of pedagogical processes in early childhood care and education with outcomes in two academic domains: language and literacy as well as mathematics. It synthesizes evidence from 17 longitudinal studies in nine European countries with 16,461 children in regular center-based care spanning the period between…

Meta-analytic evidence suggests that children have higher cortisol levels in childcare than at home. In the present study change of morning to mid-afternoon levels of cortisol was explored at home and in childcare in a Norwegian sample of toddlers. Further, analyses of associations between change of cortisol levels in childcare and child-,…

The current study provides a systematic examination of child care quality around the globe, using the Environment Rating Scales (ERS). Additional goals of this study are to examine associations between ERS process quality and structural features (group size, caregiver-child ratio) that underpin quality and between ERS and more proximal aspects of…

The first years of life lay the foundations for a child's future development and learning. Many countries have increased their financial support for provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) over the past years. More recently, the focus of debate has been shifting from expanding access to affordable ECEC to enhancing its quality. A…

This article critically analyses how empirical research investigating quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the period 1980-2008 has conceptualised "quality". Applying Foucault's notion of "critique" to 338 peer-reviewed journal articles uncovered six interconnected truths: quality is an objective reality; quality enhances…

The paper reviews public discourses and research on the safeguarding of other people's children by adults at the neighbourhood level. There is much empirical evidence pointing to the existence of thriving informal communities of support and informal childcare for parents across the social classes. There appears to be less empirical evidence…

The objective of this systematic review is to summarize the available evidence on the effects of prevention and intervention programs aimed at primary and secondary students for increasing school completion or reducing school dropout. Program effects on the closely related outcomes of school attendance (absences, truancy) will also be examined.…

What constitutes quality in early childhood settings, and how can it best be measured with today's widely used tools and promising new approaches? Find authoritative answers in this book, a must-have for high-level administrators and policymakers as more and more states adopt early childhood Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. The most…

States and the federal government have invested in early care and education programs with an explicit goal of improving school readiness for low-income children. These investments, aimed at strengthening the quality of care and supporting families' access to high-quality settings, are based in part on a confluence of research findings showing a…

Early developmental prevention involves interventions designed to prevent the development of criminal potential in individuals, especially those that target risk and protective factors, in the early years of the life course. Developmental prevention is considered one of the major strategies in preventing delinquency and later offending. There is…