Recent Child Care and Early Education Research

This page is updated monthly with summaries and links to the latest research.
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May Update

In this issue:

• CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Release New Report on State Early Head Start Initiatives
• Child Care Bureau Releases New Child Care Subsidy Data
• A Look at School Readiness in Two California Counties
• New Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Web Site
• Non-parental Caregiver Depression – Resource List Available
• New Report Details State Income Trends
• Services Provided by Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
• National Organizations Promote Vision of Child Care
• National Conference of State Legislatures Early Care and Education Legislative Database

CLASP AND ZERO TO THREE RELEASE NEW REPORT ON STATE EARLY HEAD START INITIATIVES

A new report from CLASP and ZERO TO THREE, Building on the Promise: State Initiatives to Expand Access to Early Head Start for Young Children and Their Families, examines actions that 20 states have taken to build on Early Head Start (EHS). The federal EHS program was created to help minimize the disparities caused by poverty by supporting the healthy development of pregnant women and low-income infants and toddlers in the context of their families and communities. Yet, less than 3 percent of babies and toddlers who are eligible for EHS are reached at current federal funding levels.

CLASP and ZERO TO THREE conducted interviews with state leaders working to expand EHS services in their states. Although each approach to expanding services builds on the strengths of EHS, the details of state initiatives vary widely in scope. There were four main categories, with some states reporting multiple approaches:

• Extending the day or year of existing EHS services,
• Expanding the capacity of existing EHS and Head Start programs to increase the number of children and pregnant women served,
• Providing resources and assistance to child care providers to help them deliver services meeting EHS standards, and
• Supporting partnerships between EHS and center-based and family child care providers to improve the quality of care.

The report also analyzes opportunities and challenges facing state policymakers and concludes that state leaders interested in promoting better futures for at-risk children should build on Early Head Start. Specifically, recommendations include:

• Provide sufficient funding to ensure stability and attract and retain high quality providers.
  Use EHS initiatives to partner with, and enhance quality of, child care for babies and toddlers.
• Build in sufficient training, technical assistance, and monitoring to ensure federal Head Start Program Performance Standards for educational, health, nutrition, and family support services are met.
• Cultivate champions inside and outside state government.
• Ensure that data collection and evaluation are built into state policies.
• Monitor new opportunities to build on EHS as federal reauthorization is implemented.

CHILD CARE BUREAU RELEASES NEW CHILD CARE SUBSIDY DATA

This month, the Child Care Bureau released Report to Congress for FY 2004 and 2005. The report provides the latest information about Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) expenditures and participation in those years as well as additional information about training and technical assistance, and child care-related research. The report contains administrative data that has not previously been released. Highlights of the data include the following:

• Child care spending is historically high but has declined in recent years. Child care spending from all sources (including CCDBG, TANF, and SSBG-related funds) totaled $12.1 billion in 2004 and fell to $11.96 billion in 2005. According to the previous Report to Congress, spending reached a high of $12.2 billion in FY 2003. The decline between 2004 and 2005 was the result of decreased TANF-funds used for child care.
• A total of 2.35 million children received child care assistance through all funding sources in 2004 and 2005. Approximately 1.75 million children were served in CCDBG in an average month in 2005. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that an additional 600,000 children were served through TANF and SSBG-related funds.
• The number of children receiving child care from all sources is declining over time. The number of children served has fallen from a high of 2.45 million children served in 2000. In 2002 and 2003, approximately 2.44 million and 2.36 million children respectively received child care assistance in an average month.
• CCDBG serves very low-income families. In 2005, the median monthly income of families receiving CCDBG-funded assistance was $1,283 or $15,396 when annualized. This is slightly higher than in previous years. Nearly half (49 percent) of all families receiving CCDBG-funded assistance had incomes below the federal poverty level (which was $16,090 for a family of three in 2005). Thirteen percent had incomes above 150 percent of poverty, or $24,135 in 2005.
• States serve families well below the maximum eligibility level set by federal law. Nearly all (45) states set eligibility for CCDBG-funded assistance below 85 percent of State Median Income (SMI), the maximum level established by federal law. Eligibility levels in states range from 28 to 85 percent of SMI. On average, states report income eligibility to equal 59 percent of SMI, which is lower than the 62 percent of SMI reported in FY 2002-2003.

In addition to expenditure and participation data, the Report to Congress includes an overview of research activities supported by the Child Care Bureau in 2004 and 2005 and emerging findings from on-going research related to the effect of child care subsidies on positive employment outcomes, patterns of child care use, characteristics of families who receive subsidies, and characteristics of the child care workforce.

A LOOK AT SCHOOL READINESS IN TWO CALIFORNIA COUNTIES

A new report from the Santa Clara Partnership for School Readiness examines longitudinal data on school readiness and academic achievement in five high-needs school districts in San Mateo, California. San Mateo and Santa Clara counties have been collecting data on school readiness through kindergarten assessments since 2001 and 2004 respectively. Does Readiness Matter? provides information for these two communities on what skills at kindergarten entry best predict later academic achievement.

The report finds that children who are most “ready for kindergarten,” based on a range of developmental indicators in the areas of self-care and motor skills, self-regulation, social expression and kindergarten academics, exhibit higher performance on standardized English and math tests in third, fourth, and fifth grades compared to their peers who exhibit lower levels of readiness in kindergarten. Children who performed the best in third grade entered kindergarten with high levels of both academic readiness (such as letter recognition) and social expression (such as the ability to articulate wants and needs and eagerness for learning.)

Unfortunately, the report shows that gaps in school readiness, such as those between children of different ethnic/racial groups, remain in third grade and in some cases widen. For example, the gap between White and Asian students and Latino and Pacific Islander students widens as Whites and Asians out-perform their peers on standardized tests. English Language Learners overall enter kindergarten with lower levels of readiness and have poorer performance on standardized tests in third grade, resulting in a persisting gap between them and their English-proficient peers. The 28 percent of English Language Learners who entered kindergarten exhibiting the highest levels of readiness also fared worse on tests compared to their English-proficient peers.

Children who attended preschool prior to kindergarten entry exhibit higher levels of school readiness than their peers who did not attend preschool, and continue to outperform their peers in third grade. Attending preschool raised readiness levels for some at-risk children, including Latino children, English Language Learners, and children who were not read to daily in their home.

NEW CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT SCORING SYSTEM (CLASS) WEB SITE

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) has launched a new Web site. CLASS is a tool that uses observation to assess classroom quality and interactions in the areas of emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. The assessment and its dimensions are available for pre-kindergarten, elementary, and secondary classrooms. Links highlight both large- and small-scale classroom studies where CLASS is being used to improve early learning, school success, classroom quality, and teacher quality. Research abstracts are available from journal articles that examine classrooms where CLASS has been implemented, with several studies examining specifically the pre-K tool. The video library provides visual examples of and commentary on high-quality, actual classroom interactions. For states, districts, or schools interested in implementing CLASS, information is available on the types and cost of training sessions.

NON-PARENTAL CAREGIVER DEPRESSION – RESOURCE LIST AVAILABLE

Child Care and Early Education Research Connections has created a Key Topic Resource List on Non-parental Caregiver Depression. This annotated bibliography lists journal articles and publications from universities, research organizations, and foundations on the topics of depression in non-parental caregivers and means of supporting these caregivers. Previous research has examined the effect of parental depression on child development. Emerging studies on non-parental caregiver depression show that caregivers reporting depression at higher rates tend toward less sensitive caregiving, more withdrawn behavior, and poor quality interactions with the children in their care, which may negatively impact children’s development. Research also shows correlations between depression and caregivers with low educational levels and caregivers working in greater isolation. Social support services for caregivers, similar to the services that Head Start programs provide for parents, could help improve the quality of interactions between children and caregivers.

NEW REPORT DETAILS STATE INCOME TRENDS

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute have released a new report, Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends. Since the late 1980s, income inequality has increased across the country, a trend which has accelerated since the late 1990s. Low-income families in the bottom fifth of the income distribution have experienced a 2.5 percent decline in income since the late 1990s, compared to a 9.1 percent gain in income among high-income families in the top fifth. The gap between middle-income families and high-income families has also widened since the late 1990s. States can mitigate income inequality through raising and indexing the minimum wage, improving the unemployment insurance system, making tax systems more progressive, and strengthening the social safety net. One component of a safety net is child care assistance. When families receive child care subsidies, they can work and earn more, reduce expensive child care bills, maintain more stable employment, and place their children in higher quality care that is more likely to promote healthy development. The report suggests that states can expand child care subsidy programs to reach more families, make co-payments affordable, improve their resource and referral capacity, and pay higher reimbursement rates for child care offered during non-traditional hours.

SERVICES PROVIDED BY CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL AGENCIES

The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) has released Covering the Map: Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies Providing Vital Services to Parents Throughout the United States. The report presents findings on the activities carried out by local child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) as described in a May 2007 NACCRRA survey. CCR&Rs carry out a range of services for parents and providers including child care referrals, consumer education, assistance with accessing child care subsides, parent trainings and workshops, and referrals to additional community services. According to the report:

• CCR&Rs served approximately 7 million in parents in 2006.
• Nearly half (48 percent) of all referrals received by CCR&Rs were for infant and toddler care; 30 percent were for preschool-age care and 22 percent were for school-age care.
• Beyond basic child care referral services, CCR&Rs often provide “enhanced referrals” that include child care vacancy checks and follow-up with parents, particularly for parents of children with special needs, military parents, and parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Twenty-three percent of enhanced referrals in 2006 were for families with limited English proficiency.
• Nearly a third (31 percent) of CCR&Rs administer child care subsidies through state or local government contracts.
• Sixty percent of CCR&Rs provide parent training workshops or other educational programs; 44 percent of these workshops targeted parents of infants and toddlers in 2006.
• CCR&Rs train approximately 500,000 child care providers annually to improve the quality of care provided.
• Nearly all CCR&Rs make referrals to other community services beyond child care that may include other early childhood programs, child care assistance, TANF, employment programs and children’s health services.

NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS PROMOTE VISION OF CHILD CARE

National and state organizations dedicated to improving the quality of our nation’s child care have developed a “Vision” blueprint for the reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and the strengthening of the Dependent Care Tax Credit (DCTC). This “Vision,” when realized, will expand families’ access to high-quality learning opportunities for their children and help ensure all children are cared for in child care settings that enhance their readiness for and success in school.

The “Vision” has four key parts:

1. Ensure children and families have access to affordable, healthy, and safe care;
2. Improve quality to promote early learning;
3. Improve and expand care for infants and toddlers; and
4. Provide needed research and technical assistance.

In order to realize this “Vision,” federal funding for child care must be significantly increased. Currently, CCDBG, the major source of federal funding for child care initiatives, authorizes the federal government to provide funds to states to help low-income families pay for child care and to strengthen the quality of child care. CCDBG’s reauthorization is long overdue. In addition, in 2010 recent improvements to the DCTC will expire unless extended. The “Vision” offers a road map for the next reauthorization of CCDBG and for the protection and expansion of the DCTC that will help to ensure that children have access to the child care that they need to develop their full potential and that their families will have the support they need to work and be productive.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATURES EARLY CARE AND EDUCATION LEGISLATIVE DATABASE

The National Conference of State Legislatures has released a new, real-time database of legislative proposals on early care and education in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The database provides information in categories such as child care and child care financing, early childhood services, pre-kindergarten, professional development, home visiting, infants and toddlers, and financing early education and can be searched by state, topic, status, primary sponsor, bill number, or keyword. A full history of the proposed legislation is included in the database, and information will be updated every two weeks.

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