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Issue 11—September/October 1996

Child Care Research

Child Care and Development Fund: Critical Challenges for Research
Child Care Initiatives Across the Country
Child Care Bureau Supports Policy and Research Collaboration
Tri-State Child Care Research Partnership
National Center for Children in Povery Child Care Research Partnership
The Oregon Child Care Research Partnership
Child Care at the Crossroads
Promoting the Understanding of Children's Development
What Child Care Research Tells Us
National Center Brings Research to the Child Care Community
Short Items
- Resource and Referral Data Available
- National Head Start Fellows Begin First Program Year
Resources in Child Care: Publications

Child Care and Development Fund: Critical Challenges for Research

Child care is at a crossroads. The 1996 Child Care and Development Block Grant Amendments provide a framework for states and communities to plan a more cohesive child care system that responds to the needs of families and helps promote safe and healthy care for children of all ages. This challenge has inspired a fresh look for the Child Care Bulletin. The emblem of a heart and a star portrays the caring field striving for excellence.

As the responsibility for welfare programs shifts from the federal level to states, child care assistance will continue to be a critical support for children and families. To ensure the well-being of children in this evolving picture of child care services requires different thinking from the past. Administrators need information that highlights the critical issues and impact of policy and program decisions on children and families. Partnerships among policy makers and researchers are an effective way for administrators to tap into a useful knowledge base. Research that is cross-cutting, collaborative, and directly links policy issues and information requirements with research initiatives and data findings will be increasingly important to administrators.

In anticipation of these changing needs, the Child Care Bureau has embarked on several activities to support collaboration between the research and policy communities. In the fall of 1995, the Bureau funded the Child Care Policy Research Consortium to study critical issues, including demand, supply, and outcomes for low-income families. In June 1996, the Bureau convened a Child Care Policy Research Symposium to bring together experts in the field to examine issues facing administrators, trends in related child care policy research, and future opportunities for research and collaboration. From the symposium, a paper is being developed by the National Child Care Information Center to help administrators use research to meet their needs.

Most recently, the Child Care Bureau sponsored the fifth Annual Meeting of State Child Care Administrators, in Washington D.C., September 9-10, 1996. The meeting focused on supporting states in their "next steps" in the implementation of the 1996 child care legislation, linkages with research, and the need for comprehensive state and local planning efforts.

At the meeting, a framework of five principles was presented for states and communities to consider during this planning process (see article entitled, "Child Care at the Crossroads"). The framework includes:

Building capacity to ensure quality, supply, and system support;
Expanding assistance to families to pay for services;
Developing linkages to promote comprehensive services that support families;
Leveraging private sector support to build up resources; and
Evaluating resources, needs, and progress to maximize efforts toward achieving goals.

This issue of the Child Care Bulletin looks at linkages between policy and research. It examines effective partnerships and research efforts that address key topics in child care.

Child Care Initiatives Across the Country

Georgia: Assistance in Meeting Standards

Project AIMS, Assistance in Meeting Standards, was funded by the Georgia Child Care Council to enable family child care providers to attain compliance with rules, such as maintaining immunization records or having first aid kits. It also obtained statewide data to construct an effective regulatory model and data about providers' training and technical assistance needs.

Statewide, 724 family child care providers participated in the study. Providers were randomly assigned to either an "experimental" group that received technical assistance, or a "control" group that did not. The experimental group made significantly greater gains on compliance measures.

To develop a regulatory model, the study looked at factors that predicted greater rule compliance by providers. These included how long providers had been registered; if they were affiliated with the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program or with professional associations; and whether they were seeking formal training, such as obtaining a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, or accreditation through the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC).

The project recommended implementing a routine inspection system that includes a technical assistance component. The specific recommendations addressed training, community linkages, and support networks for family child care providers.

To learn more about Project AIMS, contact Deborah Wilkes, Principal Investigator, at: (770) 953-9371.

Washington State: Child Care Essential to Stay Off Welfare

The April 1996 Washington Kids Count (WKC) study, Welfare, Work and Childcare in Washington State, examines the realities of legislative proposals to shift people rapidly off AFDC* and into jobs. The study builds on previous work by the Washington Institute for Public Policy at Evergreen State College, which emphasized a "threshold wage" of $8 per hour to stay off welfare at least 36 months. The WKC study was sponsored by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services.

Families in the study were either on welfare or deemed at risk of needing it. The study looked not just at wages, but at other factors, such as education, marital status, and child care in allowing low income families to remain off welfare.

The analysis reveals that child care is essential to staying off welfare; it also showed that there is no "magic threshold" wage, but that every increase in wages increases the probability of remaining off welfare. The findings also show that one out of five workers in Washington state works part time, and that most are women in low paying jobs. Part time and episodic work greatly limits income and highlights the need for additional supports, such as child care, sick leave, and medical coverage.

Three analytic models were used to sort out the multiple effects on work, child care, and public assistance status. The study found that the presence of young children (ages 0-6) and use of child care were important determinants of women's ability to work and remain economically independent. This suggests that strategies to move mothers off welfare will require more than just employment opportunities.

The study found that child care is expensive, costing for each child at least 20 percent of an average worker's after-tax wages. For low income women, it may cost in excess of 25 percent of income. According to the study, making quality child care affordable for low income families is clearly a necessary component of assuring economic independence.

Copies of the study are available from Washington Kids Count (WKC), at: (206) 685-7613. For more information, contact the authors: Richard Brandon, WKC Project Director, at the above number, or by e-mail at: brandon@u.washington.edu, and Robert Plotnick, Professor, University of Washington Graduate School of Public Affairs, at: (206) 685-2055. WKC is a part of the University of Washington Human Services Policy Center. Related information is available at the Policy Center's Home Page at: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~hspcnews/ [Editor's note (3-21-02): this url has changed: http://hspc.org]

Arizona: Customer Satisfaction Surveys

The Arizona Department of Economic Security's (DES) Child Care Administration conducts surveys to assess customer feedback and assist in determining future directions of the Arizona Child Care Program. A child care home provider survey and one targeted at low income, working, non-welfare families who are attending education or training programs were conducted along with an annual customer satisfaction survey. The brief surveys are written in both English and Spanish.

The surveys help to benchmark performance measures, such as customer satisfaction ratings, quantify and qualify management practices, suggest trends or patterns in child care needs and services, and build a demographic profile of families. In one survey, 45 percent of respondents indicated that they would either request public assistance, quit, or reduce work if the DES Child Care Program were not available.

To learn more, contact Stephen Fung, Evaluation and Statistical Analyst, Arizona Department of Economic Security, Child Care Administration, at: (602) 542-1091.

*AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) was replaced by TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Block Grant) in welfare reform legislation enacted in August 1996.

Child Care Research: Child Care Bureau Supports Policy and Research Collaboration

As welfare reform is implemented, policy makers are under increased pressure to meet the growing demand for child care while maintaining quality and respecting parental choice. As a result, there is a critical need for a valid, reliable and integrated knowledge base to point the way toward effective solutions to these important challenges.

In response to these issues, the Child Care Bureau has sponsored several complementary activities to support collaboration between child care policy makers and the research community. These activities have included convening a Child Care Policy Research Symposium and sponsoring a Child Care Policy Research Consortium.

Creating Successful Partnerships

In June 1996, representatives from the child care program, policy, and research fields participated in the Child Care Policy Research Symposium. Their discussions centered around linking welfare reform with child care research findings, and the implications for policy decision making. Future collaborative efforts were also considered.

Through these discussions, several elements emerged for creating effective child care policy research partnerships. The elements will be part of a forthcoming paper by An-Me Chung, Ph.D., with assistance from Louise Stoney, which is being produced by the National Child Care Information Center in cooperation with the Child Care Bureau.

Elements of Effective Policy Research Partnerships

1) Convene administrators and researchers who are committed to working toward a common goal.

2) Develop a common language through the process of discussion and deciding what is important and what research is feasible.

3) Understand, respect, and respond to the different needs of policy makers, practitioners and researchers. Pursue coordinated research strategies which effectively examine complex child care issues.

4) Maintain flexibility and creativity in finding ways to support informed decision making by balancing resource constraints and issues of research design.

5) Institutionalize the partnership so that research and policy development combine to produce and utilize relevant information that addresses critical issues.

6) Work with state and community level policy makers to develop data systems that meet the needs of the key stakeholders in quality child care.

The follow-up paper to the symposium will be a synthesis of major issues, policy questions, available research findings, and information needs. It will provide a framework for ongoing dialogue and action by the research community in partnership with child care administrators and other key stakeholders.

The paper will be available in December 1996 from the National Child Care Information Center, 301 Maple Avenue West, Suite 602, Vienna, VA 22180, or call: (800) 616-2242, fax: (800) 716-2242, TTY: (800) 516-2242, or e-mail: agoldste@nccic.org

[CCB Editor's Note: As of 4/1/2005, the address for NCCIC has changed. The new address is: 10530 Rosehaven St., Suite 400, Fairfax, VA 22030.]

Child Care Policy Research Consortium

The consortium is made up of university research teams, state and local child care agencies, resource and referral networks, and professional associations and businesses (see "National Child Care Research Consortium Formed," Child Care Bulletin, November/December 1995). These partnerships also include national organizations such as the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA).

These partnerships are spearheaded by the following organizations:

The National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, working in Illinois and Maryland;
Florida Children's Forum in Tallahassee, working in Alabama, Florida and Massachusetts; and
Portland State University Regional Research Institute for Human Services, which is working in Oregon.

The primary goals of the consortium are to develop collaborative research strategies, find new ways of collecting data without large-scale studies, and generate a more useful body of knowledge than would be possible by a single study. The specific research objectives focus on three major themes identified by the Child Care Bureau as central to welfare reform and emerging information needs:

1) Child care needs, utilization patterns and outcomes for low-income families, particularly those moving from welfare to work and those who are currently employed but at risk of needing welfare services;

2) Child care opportunities and constraints that influence the lives of low-income families and children; and

3) Systemic issues that affect the delivery of subsidized child care services.

Highlights from the three partnerships are included in the following articles.

Tri-State Child Care Research Partnership: Studying Child Care Markets

The Tri-State Partnership is working in Florida, Alabama, and Massachusetts to develop a greater understanding of how child care markets operate for low-income families, including those moving from welfare to work, and those who are employed, but at risk of being on welfare.

The Florida Children's Forum, a statewide resource and referral network, is the lead organization overseeing the project. The partnership includes state child care administrators and resource and referral agencies from the three states, and a research team representing Wellesley College and Florida International University.

Using existing state and local subsidy management and resource and referral databases, the Tri-State Partnership is looking at how subsidized child care, or the absence of it, affects family income and employment. Among the research questions are:

What are the employment patterns (hours of work, wages, types of employers) of families receiving subsidized child care, and how do these patterns differ from those of families on the waiting list for care?
How long do families need access to subsidized child care in order to make significant progress toward self-sufficiency?

The first product of the Tri-State Partnership is a paper entitled, Parents Receiving Subsidized Child Care: Where Do They Work? By showing where the parents work, the study "puts a human face" on poverty and the challenges posed by welfare reform. Most of the families receiving child care subsidies work in the retail sector, especially fast food restaurants and grocery stores. Many others work in nursing homes and temporary business services.

According to the study, "welfare reform with its emphasis on time limits and work requirements makes understanding the low-income labor market and the low-income child care market vitally important." The study documents that employers benefit indirectly from child care subsidy programs. It also looks at the industries that currently employ few workers receiving subsidized child care, and provides recommendations for training programs associated with welfare reform.

With relatively few opportunities for rapid advancement, the families concentrated in various low-wage occupations are unlikely to be able to pay the full cost of child care. This study helped contribute to the development of a new child care financing program in Florida, The Child Care Partnership Act. This program encourages employers to help share the cost of care by providing matching funds for child care for their low-income employees. The Tri-State Partnership is also moving forward with replicating this study in Alabama.

To obtain a copy of "Parents Receiving Subsidized Child Care: Where Do They Work?" contact LisaAnn Benham at the Florida Children's Forum, (904) 681-7002. For more information on the Tri-State Partnership, contact the Forum's Executive Director, Susan Muenchow, at the same number, or e-mail: SKMuenchow@aol.com

National Center for Children in Poverty Child Care Research Partnership: Focusing on State Data

The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) is leading a three-year research partnership with agencies in two states. The partners in Maryland include the Child Care Administration of the Department of Human Resources and the Maryland Committee for Children. Partners in Illinois include the Department of Public Aid, the Department of Children and Family Services, and the Child Care Resource and Referral Association. The partnership is focusing on three components:

Providing descriptive analyses of low-income child care markets using existing statewide data on regulated programs and on employed parents who receive child care subsidies;
Community level analyses of different child care markets; and,
Analyses of the interrelationships among various state policy decisions, factors related to the supply of child care, and parents' employability outcomes.

In order for policy makers to understand how the new federal welfare legislation will impact on their states' child care systems, they first must know the answers to several critical questions. For example:

How much can a family reasonably be expected to pay toward child care? How will altering the sliding fee scale affect child care choices that families make?
What do we know about family and employment characteristics of those receiving subsidies who are most likely to use informal care? How do their choices relate to the supply of regulated care? Can we use this information to estimate the number of families who will be using informal care as a result of welfare legislation?
What is the supply of care in local markets where there could be the highest impact of welfare reform? Where are the largest gaps in supply?

These are just a few of the questions that policy makers must address when deciding how to invest state resources to maximize families' access to quality child care. The partnership of researchers and representatives of subsidy and child care resource and referral agencies will explore the extent to which routinely collected administrative data can address these issues.

The partners have gained an understanding of the data that is available from an analysis of the six major management information systems in the two states that describe licensed and regulated child care programs and low-income families who use subsidies. From these sources, the partnership can glean monthly snapshots of child care and families using subsidies in order to monitor trends and understand their impact on parents' employment decisions. In addition, they are focusing on neighborhood-level analysis, and linking resource and referral, census, and subsidy data to explore the relationship between subsidies and the supply of care. They are also looking at forms of care that people moving from welfare to work are most likely to need, such as care offered during non-traditional hours.

To learn more, contact Ann Collins, Senior Program Associate, National Center for Children in Poverty, at: (212) 927-8793, or e-mail at: ac261@columbia.edu

The Oregon Child Care Research Partnership: Examining Quality of Care from Parents' Point of View

The Oregon Child Care Research Partnership is conducting a range of studies on estimating and understanding the conditions that help or impede parents in finding desirable child care for their children. In addition to analyses of existing data, including those from the biennial Oregon Population Survey, the partnership is surveying parents about their child care in a questionnaire called "Quality of Care From a Parent's Point of View." The findings are adding to Oregon's outcome-based, data-driven planning for child care and will help establish benchmarks of quality that are based on consumer data. The partnership is examining:

child care needs and family demographics associated with different levels of income, comparing families who receive welfare assistance and those who do not;
the indicators by which parents recognize child care that they value, or that they are concerned about; and
the extent to which parent-assessed quality of child care is associated with type of family (marital and employment status of parents), type of care, accessibility and affordability of choices, and work-family flexibility.

The Partnership is developing consumer indicators of the quality of the care that families arrange for their children. The questionnaire was tested with a sample of approximately 900 parents. They were asked to respond with, "It happens never, sometimes, often, or always," to statements such as, "My child feels safe and secure," "My child gets lots of individual attention," and "My caregiver is open to new information and learning." Quality-of-care questions covered the child's health and safety, number of children in care, parent's relationship and communication with the provider, the richness of activities for the child, and the warmth and quality of interest in the relationship between caregiver and child. Other issues included continuity of care, hours per week child is in care, any special needs the child may have, the flexibility the parent has in work and family, and parent's access and ability to afford child care choices.

Next year, the Partnership will continue to develop its parent's-point-of-view measurement in ways that may be useful to parent support projects. The aim is to assist parents in dealing with the conceptual and practical issues involved in observing, assessing, asking questions about, influencing, improving, or seeking alternatives to child care arrangements. This is based on the belief that the delivery and quality of child care services will be improved through assistance from parents as informed child care consumers.

For more information, contact Arthur Emlen, Professor Emeritus, Portland State University, Regional Research Institute for Human Services, at: (503) 725-4178, or e-mail at: emlenart@teleport.com

To learn more about the activities of the Child Care Policy Research Consortium, contact:

Pia Divine, Coordinator
Child Care Policy Research Consortium
Child Care Bureau
Room 329F, Humphrey Building
200 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20201
or call: (202) 690-6705,
fax: (202) 690-5600,
e-mail: pdivine@acf.hhs.gov

Child Care At The Crossroads: A Call For Comprehensive State and Local Planning

The Child Care and Development Block Grant Amendments of l996 provide an important opportunity for states and communities to plan a more cohesive child care system that responds to the needs of all families and helps promote safe and healthy care for children of all ages. Federal funding levels over a six year period allow for multi-year planning.

Child care assistance is at a crossroads. It can grow to become a critical support for children and families or it can be stretched too thin, providing minimum protections for children, and leaving many hard working families without access to child care support they need.

States and communities are encouraged to consider the following five principles during the planning process.

BUILD CAPACITY

to ensure quality, supply, and system support

In order to meet the increasing demands for child care, ensure parental choice and ensure quality environments for children, states and communities will need to build capacity in critical areas. States should consider establishing or expanding:

Apprenticeship and other professional development programs that lead to state recognized credentials for all categories of care and all levels of providers.
Resource and Referral, including consumer education and outreach to parents and providers.
Adequate payment rates that assure families equal access to a range of services in their community.
Outreach campaign and resources to build the supply of family child care, infant care, school-age care, night-time care, and care for children with special needs.
Systems for data collection and reporting.
Staff capacity for administration, coordination, licensing and monitoring and oversight.

EXPAND ASSISTANCE

to families to pay for services

In efforts to provide child care assistance to more families, states and communities should consider the need to:

Serve both working families and those transitioning off welfare.
Make all families below a certain income level eligible for child care assistance (i.e. a percentage of state median income assistance).
Provide enough assistance so that no families are forced to pay more than ten percent of their income for quality care.

DEVELOP LINKAGES

to promote comprehensive services to families

To remain self-sufficient, many families need other services along with child care. State and local planning should link child care to the following critical services:

Health
Family Support Services
Head Start
School and Youth programs
Employment Services
Transportation
Housing
Child Support Enforcement
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
Child Welfare

LEVERAGE

private sector support

The growing demand for child care assistance will strain the limited public funds available. In order to build up resources that can be used to provide assistance to an increasing number of working families and to ensure quality, we need to leverage private sector resources and support.

States and communities should consider using some of their new child care funds to reach out to businesses in their area to help build child care funds that will grow over time. Public dollars can be used to establish a "Working Parent Assistance Trust Fund" in a community or a state. Corporations could be challenged to donate resources to this fund which in turn would help improve the supply of quality services for the total community or provide targeted scholarships to help families pay for care.

EVALUATE

resources, needs and progress

In the past, there have been very few efforts made to evaluate public investments in child care. States and communities should take this opportunity to:

Include parent and provider feedback into the evaluation of services.
Evaluate the supply of child care available, the current level of assistance, and the anticipated demand.
Establish benchmarks or targeted goals for the use of child care funds.
Measure progress in reaching the goals.
Develop research and evaluation projects that assess the quality of care provided, the effect on children and the impact on the parents' ability to work.
Improve data collection and reporting.

These are draft principles for planning in states and communities. Send comments regarding these draft principles to:

Child Care Bureau - Room 320F
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201
or fax to: (202) 690-5600

Promoting the Understanding of Children's Development

The Carnegie Corporation of New York recently released a report, Years of Promise: A Comprehensive Learning Strategy for America's Children. The report's recommendations include ideas for promoting children's learning in families and communities, expanding high quality learning opportunities, creating effective school systems, and promoting high quality children's television and access to other electronic media. In the area of school-age care, the report notes that children in after-school programs would benefit from:

A philosophy that views after-school programs as part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance learning, and a more proactive approach;
More collaboration: Forming partnerships with businesses, schools, community-based organizations, cultural institutions, and volunteer groups, can offer children rich after-school experiences;
A more intense focus on the needs of individual children: Most after-school programs report excellent staff/child ratios, averaging eight or nine children per adult. Given training, staff should be able to give individual children help with homework and guidance in practicing important skills.

Years of Promise is the latest in a series of projects from the Carnegie Corporation of New York designed to advance the nation's understanding of the learning and developmental needs of children from before birth through 15. Other reports in the series include A Nation Prepared (1986), Turning Points (1989) and Starting Points (1994), which focused on the development of infants and toddlers.

To order the report, contact the Carnegie Corporation of New York at: (212) 371-3200.

What Child Care Research Tells Us About . . .

Compensation and Training

Research has shown that training, career development, and adequate compensation for providers are crucial components of quality care and education for children.

The National Day Care Study (1979), concluded that higher quality centers employed staff with child related training. The National Child Care Staffing Study (NCCSS) (1990), confirmed that experience was insufficient professional preparation: staff provided more sensitive and developmentally appropriate caregiving if they had more years of education and received college level early childhood training. More recently, the Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes Study and the Study of Quality in Family Child Care and Relative Care confirmed the relationship between education and training and competence on the job.

In addition to formal education and training, adequate compensation is a critical issue. Child care work remains one of the lowest paid occupations. According to the Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes Study, "teachers' wages, their education and specialized training were the most important characteristics that distinguish poor, mediocre, and good-quality centers." The NCCSS also identified staff wages as the most important predictor of the quality of care children receive. Better quality centers paid higher wages, hired educated and trained teachers, and experienced lower turnover. Staff earning the lowest wages were twice as likely to leave their jobs as those earning higher wages. Similarly, in family child care, higher income is associated with longevity in the field.

Children thrive when they receive care from consistent, skilled caregivers. Education and training are essential to prepare those who care for children; adequate pay is necessary to attract and retain them.

For more information see:

Helburn, S.W., Ed. (1995). The Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers Technical Report. Denver: Department of Economics, Center for Research in Economic and Social Policy, University of Colorado at Denver.

Kontos, S., Howes, C., Shinn, M., and Galinsky, E. (1995). Quality in family child care and relative care. New York: Teachers College Press.

Whitebook, M., Howes, C., and Phillips, D.A. (1990). Who cares? Child care teachers and the quality of care in America. Final Report of the National Child Care Staffing Study. Oakland, CA: Child Care Employee Project. (Now available from the National Center for the Early Childhood Work Force - NCECW). Whitebook, M., Phillips, D., Howes, C. (1993). National child care staffing study revisited: Four years in the life of center-based child care. Oakland, CA: Child Care Employee Project. (Available from NCECW).

To learn more, contact Marcy Whitebook, Senior Research Policy Advisor for the National Center for the Early Childhood Work Force, at: (202) 737-7700.

Family-Centered Child Care

A strong partnership between families and child care programs has the potential to enrich a child's development through consistent and developmentally sound care. It can reduce stress for the family and the provider while it offers support that enables parents to work well and to parent well. As programs strive to build partnerships, both family and center-based child care will need to incorporate family supportive principles and practices.

A study by the Harvard Family Research Project of thirteen exemplary child care programs suggests that quality criteria should focus on program culture, relationships and services.

Culture. This refers to a program's orientation, norms and attitudes towards parents and other adults who are significantly involved in a child's upbringing. Programs have a clearly expressed policy of respecting families, encouraging their participation, and soliciting their input for program improvement.

Relationships. A healthy relationship strives toward mutual respect and trust. Parents and providers communicate regularly to share child rearing views and information about a child's development.

Services. Child care programs respond to parents' needs through on-site services or access to community resources, such as early intervention services, emergency assistance, and social services.

The purpose of the study is to examine family-centered practices in a variety of child care settings in order to develop a set of guiding principles and criteria for a family-centered approach, and to develop a framework for training providers to adopt family supportive practices. The Family Support and Child Care Study will be released in two volumes: a set of analytic papers in winter 1997, and a set of training frameworks and resources in fall 1997. Funding for the project is provided by the Francis Families' Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

For more information, contact M. Elena Lopez, Associate Director of the Harvard Family Research Project, at: (617) 496-4304.

To learn more about Family-Centered Child Care, see "Creating Family-Centered Child Care Programs," an article excerpted from the Child Care Bureau's Leadership Forum on Promoting Family-Centered Child Care, which was published in the Spring 1996 ERIC/EECE Newsletter. This free publication is available from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education at: 1-800-583-4135. [NCCIC Editor's note (03-04-04): ERIC/EECE was discontinued on December 31, 2003. For more information call 1-877-275-3227 or e-mail the Early Childhood and Parenting (ECAP) Collaborative at ecap@uiuc.edu]

National Center Brings Research to the Child Care Community

Through a cooperative agreement with the Office of Educational Research and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) has been established at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The NCEDL's efforts are aimed at boosting children's intellectual and social development through sustained research and initiatives that address issues of national significance. The initial focus will be on three major themes in early childhood:

1) Quality in Child Care: building on earlier studies to investigate factors linked to high quality child care, including child care for children with special needs.

2) Transition: examining the process and related factors for an effective transition from child care to school.

3) Ecological Intervention for Children at Risk: studying models of intervention for children at risk of failure to thrive, low literacy, or early onset of aggressive behavior.

Research and Partnership

The Center will link research activities to the early childhood work being done by other groups and organizations and will collaborate with parents, practitioners, early childhood researchers, and policymakers.

One of the Center's activities will be a series of annual conferences to study early childhood issues. The Center will also conduct a series of surveys to address targeted areas: kindergarten transition, barriers to providing quality child care, and professional development. The research conducted will generate knowledge about the ways in which individual, program, and systems variables interact and influence programs and services.

Information Dissemination

Providing information to those who have direct daily contact with young children and those who make decisions about how programs operate is a priority for the Center. In addition to books and research articles, other activities are underway:

Fact sheets and short bulletins summarizing literature reviews and studies will be disseminated through existing early childhood and family-oriented newsletters.
Collaboration with national organizations having large-scale dissemination and educational networks will ensure that information reaches a large, diverse audience.
A World Wide Web page is under development. It will provide practical early childhood information and links to similar sites.
Press releases and articles in popular magazines will acquaint families with the work of the National Research Center.

For more information, contact Pam Winton, Director of Publications and Dissemination at the National Center for Early Development and Learning, at: (919) 966-7180.

Short Items

Resource and Referral Data Available

The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) has conducted a nationwide study to document resource and referral services. The study surveyed local child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs), State Networks, and state administrators. The findings create a snapshot of CCR&R services. For example, during the survey year, agencies recruited more than 19,928 new providers, and CCR&Rs trained more than 339,000 providers during that same time period. The survey also found that most CCR&Rs were funded with a mix of public and private funding and that there was a significant correlation between the receipt of public funding and the ability to leverage private funds.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York funded the study, with support form the American Express Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies.

Three products are available form the study:

Making Child Care Work: A Study of Child Care Resource and Referral in the United States - Major Findings
Making Child Care Work: Expanded Reports & Commentary
Telling the CCR&R Story: Making Child Care Work

To learn more, contact: The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), 1319 "F" Street, Suite 810, Washington, DC 20004, or call: (202) 393-5501, or email: HN5602@handsnet.org

National Head Start Fellows Begin First Program Year

Ten members of the first class of National Head Start Fellows began the program year in September 1996. Fellowship awards were announced during Head Start's Third National Research Conference last June. Recipients will spend a year as special assistants to senior managers, policy makers, educators, and researchers within the Department of Health and Human Services. The Fellows were selected through a national competition, on the basis of professional accomplishments and leadership potential in early childhood education and family services, including child care.

In addition to their work, the Fellows take part in educational and professional development programs. Attending regular colloquia will enable them to explore issues with senior government officials, prominent scholars and researchers, and innovative early childhood program practitioners. Each Fellow will also have a mentor within a national organization involved with children and families. At the end of the year, most Fellows will return to their former positions and will be more experienced in decision making at the national level.

The Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition is administering the program on behalf of the Head Start Bureau.

Applications for 1997-1998 Fellowships are being accepted through December 31, 1996.

To receive an application, or to obtain additional information, contact: The Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition, 1341 G Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005-3105, or call: (202) 265-9090 or: (800) 424-4310.

Resources in Child Care

With each issue, the Child Care Bulletin highlights resources available to the child care community. We encourage providers, parents, administrators, and other readers to share knowledge of what is available so that we may pass it on to the field.

Publications

Children and Welfare Reform: Highlights from Recent Research
Ann Collins, Stephanie Jones, and Heather Bloom: This publication summarizes what is known about children and welfare reform. It includes information on research studies on children and parents in poverty, studies of program models likely to have direct implications for children, and outcome evaluations of welfare-to-work programs that show how they affect children. (Available for $10 from the National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University School of Public Health, 154 Haven Avenue, New York, NY 10032, or call: (212) 927-8793, fax: (212) 927-9162, or send an e-mail message to: ejs22@columbia.edu).
National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect
Department of Health and Human Services: This survey, designed to estimate the actual number of abused and neglected children in the United States, including cases not reported to child protective services, estimates that child abuse and neglect nearly doubled between 1986 and 1993. The survey also looks at the incidence of maltreatment in relation to family income, demographics, and other variables. (Free publication, available from the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect at (800) 394-3366).
Beyond the Blueprint: Directions for Research on Head Start's Families
Board on Children, Youth and Families: A report regarding family-focused research directions as discussed by the Roundtable on Head Start Research in September, 1994. It reviews options to link Head Start research to other fields and ensure that efforts produce effective and relevant data. (Available for $17 from National Academy Press at: (800) 624-6242).
Regulation-Exempt Family Child Care in the Public Subsidy Context: An Exploratory Study
Child Care Law Center: This document assists in formulating a rational policy framework for regulation exempt family child care as it relates to the child care subsidy system. It has recommendations for administrators, resource and referral services, researchers, federal and local governments, and foundations. (Available for $35 from the Child Care Law Center, 22 Second St., 5th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94105, or call: (415) 495-5498).
The JOBS Evaluation: How Well Are They Faring? AFDC Families with Preschool-Aged Children in Atlanta at the Outset of the JOBS Evaluation
Prepared by Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation for DHHS and the Department of Education: This report describes the experiences and characteristics of AFDC mothers and their preschool-aged children in one of three sites in Georgia. The report is of a child-focused study being conducted as part of a larger Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) Evaluation. (Free report, available by contacting Ethel Norris, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), at: (202) 690-6809, or fax: (202) 690-6562. An executive summary is available by selecting "children and youth policy issues and programs," from the ASPE web site at: http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov).
Working Toward Making A Career Of It: A Profile of Career Development Initiatives in 1996
Sheri Azer, Karen Capraro, and Kimberly Elliott: This report contains survey results regarding state career development initiatives, trends, issues and challenges. (Available for $15 from The Center for Career Development in Early Care and Education at: (617) 734-5200, ext. 211).
Child Care and Employment Turnover
Sandra Hofferth and Nancy Collins: This paper examines how the availability, cost, quality, stability, and flexibility of child care arrangements influence the probability of job exits for mothers. The study utilizes data from The National Child Care Survey 1990 and The Profile of Child Care Settings to explore the effect of children and child care on job stability. (No cost for executive summary and full paper. Write to: Sandra Hofferth, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248, or e-mail: Hofferth@umich.edu).

The publications listed below are available from the Children's Defense Fund, 25 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, or call the CDF Publications Department at: (202) 662-3652.

State-by-State Investments in Child Care and Early Education, 1994 (preliminary title)
Gina Adams and Nicole Oxendine Poersch: The report examines state and federal funding for child care, prekindergarten, and Head Start services in states in 1994. It examines the relative financial commitment of each state, the total child care and early childhood resources available in each state, and the implications of these data for helping families work and children develop to their full potential. (Available fall 1996).
State Child Care Policies and Low-Income Families, 1994 (preliminary title)
Gina Adams and Nicole Oxendine Poersch: This report provides state-by-state information on child care policies for 1994, including data on eligibility, sliding fee scales, and reimbursement rates and policies. It discusses the implications of these policies as states implement new welfare initiatives. (Available late winter 1997).
Understanding the State's Role in Helping Parents Pay for Child Care (preliminary title)
Gina Adams and Nicole Oxendine Poersch: This report provides an introduction to how states design their child care subsidy systems that help parents pay for child care. It covers issues such as key decision points, funding sources, different policy decisions, and the implications of various policies for families. (Available summer 1997).

The following publications were prepared for
the Child Care Bureau by the

National Child Care Information Center
301 Maple Avenue West, Suite 602
Vienna, VA 22180
or call: (800) 616-2242
fax: (800) 716-2242
TTY: (800) 516-2242
or e-mail: agoldste@nccic.org