In March 2020, when public health stay home orders began in order to halt the spread of COVID-19, child care as an industry was drastically and abruptly impacted. This public health emergency highlighted the weaknesses in the child care system in the United States. This study investigated the changes in operations cost, child enrollment and…

This study traces patterns of attendance, times of arrival and departure, and policies and practices surrounding enrollment and moving children from classroom to classroom in a child care center. It appears that children's efforts to acquire competence in developing friendships with their peers not only depends on their own capacities, but is also…

As care providers of young children, the early childhood profession is poised to be on the forefront of the green revolution. Sustainability, by definition, is the art and science of leaving for future generations, opportunities equal or better than those left us. There is no better place to employ this philosophy of sustainability than in child…

Practice or Policy: Continuity of care (COC) has many benefits for young children's development but is not the norm in infant/toddler classrooms. As a consequence, policymakers might not realize how such an approach might also benefit the professional development of infant and toddler teachers, particularly if they come to the field with little…

A significant percentage of all child care programs are offered through religious organizations. This article describes the efforts of one church located in an impoverished section of Washington, DC, to respond to the needs of low-income families with infants and toddlers. The St. Philip's Child Development Center of Anacostia serves the community…

This article features Childgarden Child Development Center, located in the heart of St. Louis. It's a cheery, bright place with colorful self-portraits by pintsized Picassos hanging from every wall. More than 120 children aged six weeks to eight years old gather at Childgarden each day to learn all about themselves and the world around them. In…

For decades "Exchange" magazine has tracked the growth of the for profit child care sector. In this article, the author reflects on trends in the for profit sector over the past four decades. Overall, it has been a period of tremendous growth for the for profit sector. However, it has also been characterized by alternating periods of rapid growth,…

This article discusses professionalism in early childhood education through the analytical tool of a research-based multi-level perspective that sees this as a cultural, communal, organisational, and individual phenomenon. Starting from an understanding of professionalism derived from a model of professional expertise, the article discusses the…

This article profiles Helen J. Post-Brown, director of Sunbeam Child Care Center in Fairmont and president of West Virginia Childcare Centers United, and explains how Post-Brown faced the obstacles when managing a child care business. In the fall of 1980, Post-Brown started Sunbeam as a small preschool with 12 children. Over the years, Sunbeam has…

The importance of quality care for infants, toddlers, and young children continues to be emphasized. The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center provided data that support the importance of quality childcare. Their longitudinal study showed that infants who received quality care were more likely to score higher on IQ, reading, and math tests,…

Six children (5 boys, 1 girl; aged 36-60 months) participated in this qualitative study. Each child was enrolled in a different family child care facility. The authors rated the child care providers in 3 of the facilities as using developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) most of the time and rated the providers in the 3 other facilities as…