Monday, March 26, 2007

Interpreting the newest NIH daycare study

Some parents are sure to be concerned about the new day care data released today of a long-term NIH study . I prefer to see it as yet more evidence that, as a society, we need to pay more than lip service to the quality of day care and to the quality of the training daycare providers receive. The newest data shows:

*Children who received higher quality child care before entering kindergarten scored better on vocabulary tests in fifth grade than children who received lower quality care.

*Children who spent more time in center-based care before kindergarten were more likely to be considered behavior problems by their sixth-grade teachers.

The study, published in the March/April issue of Child Development, is the largest, longest-running and most comprehensive study of child care in the US, tracking 1,364 children from birth in 1991.

So how are you supposed to know if your daycare is high or low quality? One sure tip-off is whether it is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Another is to ask about the staff rate of turn-over; high turn-over typically indicates low pay, mediocre work conditions and poor quality day-care. And a third clue is to learn about the training of staff, including the opportunity for continuing professional opportunities.

Of course, every analysis comes with a caveat. The NIH researchers caution that the increase in vocabulary and in problem behaviors was "small," and that "parenting quality was a much more important predictor of child development."

To which I add, amen.

Posted by Barbara Meltz at 10:14 AM

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