Research has demonstrated that federal Head Start centers, which provide preschool care to children from low-income families, have little or no long-term academic value for children. This "Backgrounder" adds to the evidence that Head Start has failed to achieve its objectives and should be sunset, not expanded, by demonstrating a…

Policymakers, child care providers, and parents face tradeoffs in determining how much to spend on child care, including how many hours to purchase, and the features of programs that might influence quality. Given these tradeoffs, it is useful to understand what constitutes quality, the cost of care features associated with quality, the effects of…

This article reports on the findings of a follow-up study, which examined parents' and teachers' perspectives regarding the quality of childcare for 3- to 5-year-old children in the United States, Russia and Finland between 1991 and 2011. The study aims to address a gap in early childhood education (ECE) research by examining how the quality of…

Eleven million children younger than age five are in some form of child care in the United States. The "Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2014 Report" summarizes the cost of child care across the country, examines the importance of child care as a workforce support and as an early learning program, and explores the effect of high…

It is not only in families that young children are influenced to become members of their culture. Around the world and within individual countries, culture influences how care is provided to infants and toddlers in child care settings. In turn, infants and toddlers begin to learn how to act and think as members of their culture. From ways that…

Eleven million children younger than age five are in some form of child care in the United States. The "Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2015 Report" summarizes the cost of child care across the country, examines the importance of child care as a workforce support and as an early learning program, and explores the effect of high…

Every week in the United States, nearly 11 million children younger than age 5 are in some type of child care arrangement. On average, these children spend 36 hours a week in child care. While parents are children's first and most important teachers, child care programs provide early learning for millions of young children daily, having a profound…

"Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2012 Report" presents 2011 data reflecting what parents pay for full-time child care in America. It includes average fees for both child care centers and family child care homes. Information was collected through a survey conducted in January 2012 that asked for the average costs charged for…

The purpose of this study was to investigate young children's perspectives related to their experiences in child care. Researchers used individual interviews and drawings in an early childhood program in Denmark and one in the United States as the basis for examining children's perspectives on their everyday lives in child care. Observations…

The field of early care and education has a long, proud history. In conducting research on the oldest child care centers in the United States, the authors discovered 75 organizations that have been in operation research more than 90 years; the oldest of which, Newark Day Care Center, has been in operation for 207 years! Rather than summarizing…

Each week, nearly 11 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting for an average of 35 hours. Parents, as consumers of child care, equate a child care license with state approval--a gold seal for those businesses to which a state grants a license. Child Care Aware® of America reviews state licensing policies, which include…

The current study extends a recent workforce development programme evaluation and examines the relationship between ongoing success in the three-year programme and participants' educational attainment, professional activities and several employment factors. Three hundred and twenty-seven teaching staff and 92 directors from 99 child care centres…

This report was prepared by the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC) in partnership with staff from the Child Care Bureau. NCCIC compiled data reported in approved CCDF Plans and relevant attachments submitted by Lead Agencies for a selected number of questions. The information presented reflects some of the…

The author examines childcare preferences of African immigrant parents living in the United States. Based on interviews with eighteen parents with preschool-aged children and working within Bryman, Lewis-Beck, and Liao's (2004) narrative inquiry, the author demonstrates that although many of the African immigrants surveyed for the study preferred…

The achievement of quality, affordability and availability--what has been called the "trilemma" of child care--continues to pose relevant, moral challenges for administrators, teachers and parents. These three dimensions of the trilemma are directly related to questions of moral significance related to how the US child care structure…