Welfare reform efforts have been based on crucial assumption: single mothers moving off of AFDC and into the work force will be able to find affordable child care. Two parallel studies of child care supply and its distribution across rich and poor communities inform the debate over child-care availability. In the first study, data from 100…

Reports on a cross-cultural study of expectations about developmental timetables for young children held by infant and preprimary teachers in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Pistoia, Italy. Findings indicate that teachers' expectations are influenced by culture, as well as child development training and experience with children. (BB)

While current early education and care funding still reaches only a fraction of preschool children, some states now have considerable experience in coordinating subsidized child care, Head Start, and state prekindergarten initiatives to enhance early education and learning opportunities for young children. Drawing on the experiences of Georgia,…

Designed to improve Massachusetts' children's healthy development and success in school, this plan discusses high quality early care and education programs that are responsive to the needs and preferences of families, and that provide parenting education and family literacy and support. The goal of the plan is to create a coordinated system of…

This book discusses state child care and early childhood education policies, particularly their relationship to the economy. It provides a framework for policymakers who are deliberating child care and early childhood education policies; outlines the range of recent state legislation; describes initiatives of Massachusetts and Washington; and…