Evaluation Review · 2006 · 146 citations · 15 references
EducationEarly Childhood EducationEducational MeasurementChild DevelopmentEarly Childhood PolicyEarly InterventionEarly ChildhoodEarly Childhood Education PolicyChild Care Quality EvaluationEarly Childhood Learning EnvironmentsPre-kindergarten Program EvaluationSchool Readiness Skills
High‑quality early care is widely believed to boost school readiness, yet scholars debate which elements constitute quality, whether these elements are consistent across settings, how to measure them, and what level of quality meaningfully affects child outcomes. The article seeks to determine whether the aspects of child‑care environments that researchers currently measure are those most strongly linked to child development, by addressing questions about definitions, measurement fidelity, cross‑setting applicability, and the validity of study conclusions, and by outlining directions for future research. It does so through a conceptual review that evaluates how quality is defined and measured, whether these measures capture the child’s experience, their consistency across settings, and whether researchers draw accurate conclusions from studies linking environment to outcomes. The authors conclude that existing quality measures are flawed and that studies often draw incorrect or overstated conclusions about the relationship between early‑care environments and child outcomes.
There is a widespread belief that high-quality early care and education can improve children's school readiness. However, debate continues about the essential elements of a high-quality experience, about whether quality means the same things across different types of care settings, about how to measure quality, and about the level of quality that might make a meaningful difference in outcomes for children. Are the aspects of the child care environment that researchers measure the ones that are most strongly related to children's development? This article argues that the ways in which researchers currently measure early care environments are flawed and that the conclusions drawn about the relationship between these measures and outcomes for children are frequently incorrect or overstated. The article addresses four questions: How is the quality of the child care environment commonly defined and measured? Do the most commonly used measures capture the child's experience? Do they work well across all settings? Are researchers drawing the correct conclusions from studies that relate the child care environment to child outcomes? Finally, the article discusses some possible directions for future research.
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Who cares? Child care teachers and the quality of care in America
Marcy Whitebook, Carollee Howes, Deborah Phillips et al. · Young children · 1989 · 394 citations
Education, Educational Administration, Child Development +14