Benefits of High Quality Child Care
By Rick Nauert, PhD
The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development is the “largest, longest running and most comprehensive study of child care in the United States”.(Nauert, 2010) The study was conducted over a ten year period beginning when the 1,364 participants were 1 month old. All children were born in 1991 from 10 locations across the United States. The families that participated were not representative of the U.S. population, but they were “from diverse geographic, demographic, economic and ethnic backgrounds”. (Nauert, 2010) The purpose of the study was to follow the children and document their experiences in child care.
As a result of the study other scientists were able to analyze the data that was collected. They determined that teens that were in high-quality child care settings in later years scored “slightly higher” on academic and cognitive achievement tests they were also less likely to report any behavior problems than their peers that attended child care facilities that were of a lesser quality. This report is clear evidence that there is a correlation between the early child care experience and the academic achievement and behavior that children exhibit in childhood and into their teen years.
The research also enlightened researchers in the early childhood field to understand that there is a correlation between the hours that children spent in child care programs during the first four years of life and the increased tendency towards impulsive and risk-taking behaviors at age 15. This allows early childhood professionals to understand that parents have more influence on the growth and development of their child than the type of child care services that they receive.
This is a perfect example of how research can benefit both early childhood professionals and society as a whole. Through the NICHD research project, other researchers and professionals were able to analyze other topics of child development. Personally, I was interested to learn that the amount of time a child spent in child care affected the child’s tendency to take more risks and to be more impulsive in their teenage years. What about the child care experience would make children more likely to engage in risky behaviors in later years? The article also stated that “high-quality” care in this study was “characterized by the caregivers’ warmth, support, and cognitive stimulation of the children under their care”. I believe this is a good definition of what a high quality child care center should have. Although the cognitive stimulation is very important for a child’s school readiness, all child care centers should be warm and supportive of the children.
The article on this research project can be found at this link, http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/05/17/benefits-of-high-quality-child-care/13866.html, I hope that you enjoy the information as much as I did.
Naurt, Rick. (2010). Benefits of High Quality Child Care. Psychotherapy News. Retrieved from
Retrieved on May 20, 2011.
I have an interest in reading research that impacts learning gaps. I will have to read this study. It is always interesting to see how high quality early care is positive and makes a difference. You would think that the government and the community at large would be more supportive of quality early learning experiences for all children.
ReplyDeleteJennifer
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. This also goes along with the last blog I commented on. I thought the research should go on beyond four years and this ten year study gave some clear understanding of the children for that ten year period. I appreciate the link to the article so we can read it first hand.