You bet quality matters! Child care quality and children's development

The release of You Bet I Care! (Study 2 & 3) has generated questions about whether and how much child care quality matters. Here are some current online research documents that shed light on this topic. The items are listed from the most recent to the least recent.

Benefit cost analysis of the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention
Leonard N. Masse & Steven Barnett
SOURCE  National Institute for Early Education Research, November 2002
Full report available pdf.

The relation of preschool child care quality to children's cognitive and social developmental trajectories through second grade.
E. Peisner-Feinberg, M. Burchinal, R. Clifford, M. Culkin, C. Howes, S. Kagan & N. Yazejian
SOURCE   Child Development, Volume 72, Number 5 (September 2001), pp.1534-1553
Full issue available online.

Applied Development Science. Special issue on quality of care and children's development. Vol. 4, No. 3, 2000
Abstracts for all articles available online.

Child care quality: Does it matter and does it need to be improved?
Deborah Lowe Vandell and Barbara Wolfe, 2000.
SOURCE: United States Department of Health and Human Services
Full report available online.

Child outcomes when child care center classes meet recommended standards for quality
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999.
SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, Volume 89, Number 7
Abstract available online.

The children of the cost, quality, and outcomes study go to school
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, 1999
SOURCE: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Executive summary available online.

Quality care does mean better child outcomes
Dick Clifford, Ellen Peisner-Feinberg, Mary Culking, Carollee Howes and Sharon Lynn Kagan NCEDL Spotlights No. 2, 1998
SOURCE: National Center for Early Development and Learning, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
Full article available online.

Quality in child care centers: Fact sheet
Fact sheet, Volume 1, Number 1, 1997
SOURCE: National Center for Early Development and Learning, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Centre, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
Full article available online.

Quality in child care centers: Policy brief
Policy brief, Volume 1, Number 1, 1997
SOURCE: National Center for Early Development and Learning, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Centre, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
Full article available online.

Are they in any real danger? What research does -- and doesn't -- tell us about child care quality and children's well-being
John M. Love, Peter Z. Schochet and Alicia L. Meckstroth, 1996
SOURCE: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Full Document available online.

The great child care debate: The long-term effects of non-parental child care
Gillan Doherty, 1996
SOURCE: Childcare Resource and Research Unit, Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto.
Full report available online.

What does research tell us about quality in child care?: Fact sheet
SOURCE: Childcare Resource and Research Unit, Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, 1996
Fact sheet available online.

The role of program quality in producing early childhood program benefits
Ellen C. Frede, 1995 The Future of Children, Volume 5, Number 3, 1995
SOURCE: Center for the Future of Children, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Full article available online.

Five perspectives on quality in early childhood programs
Lilian G. Katz, 1993
SOURCE: ERIC/EECE Publications
Full report available online. 

Caring for America's children
Anne Meadows (Editor); Panel on Child Care Policy, National Research Council, 1991
SOURCE: The National Academy Press
Full report available online.

Quality of child care: Perspectives of research and profession practice
Cheryl D. Hayes, John L. Palmer & Martha J. Zaslow (Editors), 1990. Chapter in Who cares for America's children: Child care policy for the 1990s
SOURCE: The National Academy Press
Full chapter available online.

PRINT RESOURCES

Burchinal, M., Roberts, J., Riggins, Rhodus Jr., Ziesel, S., Neebe, E. & Bryant, D. (2000). Relating quality of center-based child care to early cognitive and language development longitudinally. Child Development 71,( 2): 339-357.

Doherty, G. (1995). Quality matters: Excellence in early childhood programs. Don Mills, ON: Addison-Wesley Canada.

Doherty, G. (1993). National statement on quality child care: Support from research. Paper prepared for the Canadian Child Care Federation. Canadian Child Care Federation: Ottawa, ON.

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This list in not intended to be an exhaustive examination of this topic; for a more comprehensive list, search the Childcare Resource and Research Unit resource library catalogue Childcare Information Resource Collection (CIRC).