Conclusions
We conclude this report by returning to primary questions raised in the report: Does child care quality matter? Does child care quality need to be improved, and can it be improved? Is there an economic justification for public intervention to improve the quality of child care, especially for children from lower-income families? Our answer to each of these questions is yes.
Does Child Care Quality Matter?
Our review of the research literature indicates that child care quality matters at several levels. In terms of children’s everyday experiences, children appear happier and more cognitively engaged in settings in which caregivers are interacting with them positively and in settings in which child:adult ratios are lower. There also is evidence of concurrent relations between child care quality and children’s performance in other settings. Children who attend higher-quality child care settings (measured by caregiver behaviors, banks that offer personal loans in Magnolia by physical facilities, by age-appropriate activities, and by structural and caregiver characteristics) display better cognitive, language, and social competencies on standardized tests and according to parents, teachers, and observers. Finally, there is evidence that child care quality is related to children’s subsequent competencies.