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Produced by Research Connections
Peer Reviewed JournalCurrent Filters: Resource Type:Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects [remove];
93 results found.|
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Access to Quality Child Care in Montana: Exploring Parent and Provider Perspectives An examination of the capacity of Montana's child care system to serve Native American families and rural families of children with disabilities. The study focuses on issues of access, supply, and demand, and seeks to determine whether the availability of child care services is substantially different for Native American children and children with disabilities than for other families. Methodology includes parent and provider surveys as well as on-site assessment of child care programs. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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America Cares for Children and Youth: School-Age Care Needs Assessment and Training Project A project documenting the demand and supply of formal and informal school-age care, particularly for ethnic minority or low-income youth, in inner city and remote rural areas of Georgia. The project also develops and evaluates community needs assessment tools and training protocols for informal caregivers. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Assessing the Effectiveness of State and Local Quality Initiatives An exploration of initiatives designed to improve the quality and supply of child care. Questions include: (1) What initiatives have states and communities funded to improve child care quality and expand child care supply?; (2) How do states and communities assess the effectiveness of these initiatives?; and (3) What assessment tools/methods would be useful to states and communities? Products include a tool-kit of assessment measures and an analysis of selected programs. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Asymmetric Information and the Child Care Market An assessment of whether publicly available information about quality influences parents' child care choices, with an investigation of what types of providers are likely to participate in evaluations to assess child care quality, and how the results of these evaluations can influence the market. The study expands the work of the Child Care Programs of Excellence (CCPOE) project, which was designed to: (1) recruit providers and assess their quality via on-site observations; (2) develop a quality rating report and disseminate it to parents; and (3) evaluate the impact of this information on parents' and providers' choices. Quantitative data analyses are used to answer the research questions. The policy implication for this work is the feasibility and benefit of educating parents about the importance of high quality child care. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Balancing Work and Family During Children's First Three Years A secondary analysis of data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, consisting of two phases. Phase one explores the relationship between mothers' number of work hours and responsiveness to their children, and how this relationship is moderated by child care quality. Phase two examines how employed mothers balance work and family roles, and how the two are moderated by child care quality. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Barriers to Child Care Subsidies A project consisting of three related studies. The first utilizes focus groups and a standardized survey with subsidy eligible families to examine subsidy use among low-income families. The second surveys low-income families to explore how child care preferences may be related to race and culture. The third uses observational measures to examine the quality of kith and kin care for families who do not use subsidies. This research provides policy-relevant information about developing subsidy policies that are sensitive to the contextual and cultural differences among low-income families. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care and Special Needs Children: Challenges for Low-income Families A study of child care for children with special needs that also examines related issues of welfare reform and coordination with early intervention services at the community level. The research is based on focus groups and in-depth interviews with low income parents of children with special needs in six communities in Maine and Connecticut, as well as interviews with welfare caseworkers, early intervention case managers, child care providers, and low-wage employees, to provide a context for parents' perspectives. Surveys of 189 child care providers and 441 parents of children with special needs in Maine was conducted as well as a secondary analysis of data from a sample of families with children with special needs drawn from the National Survey of America's Families. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Arrangements Among Low-Income Families: A Qualitative Approach An analysis of child care arrangements among urban low-income families, using qualitative research methods--including interviews with mothers over a twelve month period, and observations in child care settings--to explore the following questions: (1) What are the strategies working families in low income urban communities adopt for their young children's care and development?; (2) How do different strategies affect the way children spend their time during early childhood?; and (3) What comparisons, if any, can be made in the care offered families with young children in American inner-city communities that differ by racial and ethnic composition, and/or the types of services available in those neighborhoods? The goal is to better understand individual family decisions within the context of the choices available at the community level. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care during the First Year of School: How Extent, Type, and Quality Relate to Child Well-Being A systematic examination of the links between extent, type, and quality of child care and children's social-emotional and cognitive well-being, using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K). The sample for this study includes approximately 14,000 kindergarteners in the ECLS-K. The research explores the full range of child care options (formal and informal), focusing on sub-groups of children including low-income and subsidy-eligible. This study informs Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) policy regarding school-age child care, including how to design subsidy programs and cost effective quality enhancement strategies that best support school-age child well-being. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Effects in Context: Quality, Stability, and Multiplicity in Nonmaternal Child Care Arrangements from 3 to 6 Years of Age An assessment of the frequency with which low-income preschoolers (ages 3-6) experience unstable and multiple concurrent child care arrangements, and an examination of the effects of quality, stability, and multiplicity on children's social-emotional adjustment and school readiness. The study uses data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, and aims to help policymakers understand how child care experiences affect the social-emotional adjustment and school readiness of children living in poverty. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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The Child Care Estimator A task order awarded to the University of Maryland to provide user guides and materials to assist policymakers and their staff in navigating the Child Care Estimator statistical model. The Child Care Estimator model produces an estimated cost of meeting the total potential need for child care assistance, and a determination of the penetration rates at which the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) meet the total potential service population's identified needs. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Price Dynamics in California A California child care market study with the following objectives: (1) tracing trends in price; (2) relating price changes to characteristics of supply and demand in county and sub-county markets; (3) understanding how providers set prices; and (4) assessing the effect of vouchers, reimbursement rate ceilings, or other policies on the overall price of care in the private market. Sub-study 1 is a trend analysis of provider prices from Regional Market Rate Surveys over the past decade. Sub-study 2 is a longitudinal study of 25 providers in urban San Mateo County and rural Kern County. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Quality and Consumer Education An assessment and rating of the quality of child care providers in four counties, using structural and process measures, and evaluating the impact of ratings on parent choice and the child care market structure, including supply, prices, and turnover. Ratings are made available to parents, in partnership with resource and referral agencies, and parents are surveyed to explore the types of information used to make child care decisions. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Quality: Does Partnering with Head Start Make a Difference? A three-year investigation of the relationship between Child Care/Head Start partnerships, observed quality, and children's school readiness, conducted in Ohio by the Education Development Center (EDC). The research expands on an existing study to examine: (1) under what conditions child care partnerships with Head Start are related to observed child care classroom quality; (2) whether there is a link between partnerships and children's school readiness; and (3) whether partnerships are associated with observed quality in family child care homes. The study uses data collected on environmental quality and child outcomes, through the use of observational and child assessment instruments, from 67 child care center classrooms, 673 children, and 135 family child care homes, all randomly selected. This research addresses critical questions about the effectiveness of coordination efforts and provides evidence about the outcomes of strategies designed to improve child care quality. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child-Care Selection from Birth to Age Three: The Influence of Family Economy, Demographics, and Parenting Beliefs A study of the influence of family socioeconomic status, parental beliefs, and differences between single and two parent families on child care selection. The study identifies the timing and sequence of care over children's first three years of life, and examines the following issues: (1) whether and when children enter care of different types (e.g., relative care vs. family day care) and intensity (e.g., part- versus full-time); (2) the sequence of arrangements over the first three years; (3) how time-variant (e.g., income, parenting beliefs) and time-invariant (e.g., ethnicity) family characteristics affect child care decisions; and (4) whether these effects vary by child age. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Subsidies and Entry to Employment Following Childbirth A study of the relationship between child care subsidies and the length of time between the birth of a child and the mother's entry to employment, particularly among lower-skilled women, who typically spend a larger proportion of their earnings on child care than do women with higher skills and education. The study is based on The Fragile Families and Well-Being Study (a nationally representative data set), and a unique data set of local policy indicators, and tests the hypothesis that child care subsidies cause new mothers to enter the labor force more expeditiously by: (1) reducing the cost of employment relative to earnings; and (2) facilitating stable child care arrangements. It predicts that the receipt of subsidies and the timing of entry to paid employment will vary with child care policies, after controlling for individual and family characteristics that influence the benefits and costs of subsidy use, and of paid employment relative to home production (i.e. caregiving) work. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Subsidy Use and Self-Sufficiency Pathways of Low-Income Mothers: A Three-State Study An exploration of factors related to subsidy take-up rates, child care use for those on subsidies, and the effects of child care subsidies on welfare and employment, based on an analysis of linked individual-level administrative data on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) receipt, use of child care subsidies, and wage reports from Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Today: Cost and Quality of Family Child Care and Infant/Toddler Care A comparative study of variations in child care quality and cost across types of care, child ages, workforce characteristics, and community/neighborhood factors, using a random sample of 200 family child care homes and 100 centers serving infants and toddlers. This project is part of a larger study funded by the Massachusetts Department of Education. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care Use in Mexican American Families An examination of factors that may influence child care practices of Mexican American families, including: community and employment factors; cultural beliefs and caregiving practices; extended family and non-kin networks; family characteristics; and child care characteristics. The study uses an integrative process-oriented model of minority children's development, and follows two cohorts of Mexican American families: a group with one-month old infants (N=80), and a group with 24-month old toddlers (N=80), for three years. This cross-sectional cohort design focuses on three issues: (1) factors associated with parental child care choices; (2) assessment of the features and quality of child care; and (3) factors associated with the effect of child care on family and child outcomes. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Child Care, Welfare and Families: The Nexus of Policies, Practices, and Systems An examination of the role of welfare policies and practices in shaping child care for low-income families, building on the Urban Institute's New Federalism Project. Key issues include: (1) how child care and welfare systems are organized at State and local levels; (2) the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches; and (3) how overlap and duplication are being addressed. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Children at Risk in the Child Welfare System: Collaborations to Promote School Readiness A case study examining the extent to which the child welfare, early care and education, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) early intervention systems are collaborating to promote the school readiness needs of children under age five in the child welfare system in Colorado. The study is based on field interviews with approximately 150 key agency staff and survey interviews with approximately 500 foster parents and 200 child welfare caseworkers, and explores: (1) barriers to and facilitators of collaboration at the state, county and local levels; and (2) the degree to which children in the child welfare system are being linked to the IDEA early intervention and early care and education (ECE) programs. This research informs policy and program choices about best practices and models for how the multiple agencies which provide these services can coordinate their efforts. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Community Variations in Child Care for Working Poor Families: Contributions to Child Development and Parental Employment Opportunities A description and comparison of the "child care landscapes" in four communities with diverse subsidy policies, employing an integrated design and using existing data, qualitative data, and quantitative data to identify the community-level variables that are most strongly associated with quality of care and child and family outcomes, and to determine the linkages between child care characteristics and parental work outcomes. The first phase includes 500 parent surveys, 30 community informant interviews, 15 parent focus groups and an analysis of existing community data. The second phase includes assessments of 300 children (30 infants/toddlers and 30 preschoolers in each of 5 communities), their parents, and their child care providers, using measures of child care structural quality, process quality, child development, and parent employment. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Comparative Analysis of Subsidized and Non-Subsidized Relative Child Care in Kansas An assessment of the quality of care in subsidized relative care settings, conducted for the purpose of informing policymakers regarding the efficacy of this investment. The objectives are two-fold: (1) to assess and compare quality of care observed in both subsidized and non-subsidized relative child care settings; and (2) to conduct a needs assessment of subsidized relative child care providers from which governmental agencies can facilitate support mechanisms or quality initiatives meeting the specific and unique needs of these providers. The study gathers quantitative data from sample pools of 30 subsidized and 30 non-subsidized relative child care providers from select Kansas counties, using the Child Care Assessment Tool for Relatives (CCAT-R) to measure the quality in relative care environments. Complementary qualitative data is gathered from focus group interviews of subsidized and non-subsidized child care providers. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Comparing Web-Based to In-Person Training to Deliver a Nutrition and Physical Activity Intervention in Child Care A comparative study of different types of training components of the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care project (NAP SACC) in terms of their overall effectiveness at preparing Child Health Care Consultants (CCHCs) to deliver the NAP SACC intervention. NAP SACC is an intervention for child care centers and family child care homes aimed at improving nutrition and physical activity policies and practices, including the nutritional quality of food served, the amount and quality of physical activity, staff-child interactions, and center nutrition and physical activity policy, through self-assessment and targeted technical assistance. With the help of a trained CCHC, centers complete a self-assessment instrument at pre and post-intervention to evaluate center nutrition and physical activity policies and practices in fifteen areas. This study gathers a sample of twenty CCHCs who volunteer to bring NAP SACC to their counties, randomly assigns them to one of two training methods--web-based and in-person group, and evaluates them on their overall nutrition and physical activity knowledge and their ability to provide technical assistance to centers. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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Connecticut Early Childhood Research and Development Project: Child Care Data CONNections A project undertaken by the Connecticut Department of Social Services, and the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, to build a statewide research infrastructure for well-informed, effective and efficient program and policy development at state and local levels, with the advice and guidance of six stakeholder panels (research, data, advocacy, technology, funders, and data users). Activities include building an inventory of databases, prioritizing recommendations for aligning existing databases and related information dissemination processes, and developing a three- to five-year research agenda. |
Administration for Children and Families/OPRE Projects
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