Early Care and Education for Children in Low-Income Families: Patterns of Use, Quality, and Potential Policy Implications

Early Care and Education for Children in Low-Income Families Patterns of Use, Quality, and Potential Policy Implications Gina Adams, Kathryn Tout, and Martha Zaslow Paper 4 Prepared for The Urban Institute and Child Trends Roundtable on Children in Low-Income Families January 12, 2006 revised May 2007 Copyright © 2007. The Urban Institute. Permission is granted for reproduction of this document, with attribution to the Urban Institute. This paper is part of the Urban Institute’s Assessing the New Federalism project, a multiyear effort to monitor and assess the devolution of social programs from the federal government to the state and local levels. The project analyzes changes in income support, social services, and health programs. In collaboration with Child Trends, the project studies changes in family well-being. The authors would like to thank Dave Edie, Olivia Golden, Mark Greenberg, Joan Lombardi, Ellen Peisner-Feinberg, and Helen Raikes for their helpful comments. They also appreciate the help of Fiona Blackshaw, Joanna Parnes, Cameron McPhee, Brendan Saloner, Tamara Halle, Elizabeth Hair, and Sharon Vandivere. The authors of this paper are listed alphabetically in recognition of the fact that they contributed equally, though in different ways and in different sections, to this paper. A research brief based on this paper is also being prepared by Child Trends. The Assessing the New Federalism project is currently supported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The Ford Foundation. The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, its funders, or other authors in the series. CONTENTS Executive Summary v Introduction 1 Early Care and Education Usage Patterns of Children from Low-Income Families 7 The Quality of Early Care and Education and Children’s Development 13 The Quality of Early Care and Education for Children from Low-Income Families 21 The Policy Context that Shapes the Quality of Early Care and Education Settings 27 Policy Challenges and Opportunities 32 Notes 36 References 38 About the Authors 48 Early Care and Education for Children in Low-Income Families vEXECUTIVE SUMMARY Early care and education has become a reality for many young children in America as increasing proportions of families have working parents. At the same time, a growing body of research shows the importance of the early years for children’s future development, with some findings indicating that high-quality early care and education can be particularly important for the development of children in low-income families. In addition, the United States is investing billions in public funds to support early care and education with a particular emphasis on children in low-income families. The convergence of these realities suggests that this is an opportune time to assess what we know about the patterns of usage and the quality of care that children in low-income families receive. This paper focuses on these issues, with the goal of informing the policy discussion about supporting the development of children in low-income families before they enter school. Key Findings This paper describes what is known in four key areas—each of which is summarized below. Early Care and Education Usage Patterns of Children from Low-Income Families Participation in early care and education settings is common for children from low-income families. More than half of children younger than 6 in low-income families are regularly in early care and education settings. More than a third of all children in low-income families in this age group are in such settings for more than 15 hours a week. Children in low-income families are found in all types of care, including center-based arrangements, family child care, and care by relatives and non-relatives in home settings. More than a third are in more than one arrangement regularly. Patterns of early care and education differ for families with higher and lower incomes. Children younger than 5 in low-income families with employed mothers are slightly less likely to be in early care and education settings overall. They are also less likely to be in center-based care than their higher-income counterparts, and more likely to be in relative care. Child care patterns also differ by age, parental marital and work status, and race or ethnicity. The use of particular early care and education arrangements reflects access to different arrangements as well as family preferences and constraints. Some factors that play a role in type of care used include the family’s financial situation and access to child care subsidies; the employment status and schedules of parent(s); whether another parent or relative can pr