What factors of child care matter to childrens development?
Child care experts have described in clear detail the structural, procedural, and interactive factors that are important for early child care (e.g., Friendly & Beach, 2005). Knowledge about child care quality often comes from child development theory, from observation, and from the experience of caring for children. CCKMs Research Guide adds to this descriptive and experiential knowledge the results of studies that directly measured the relationship of child care quality to outcomes of childrens development. The relationship of overall quality of child care to childrens cognitive, language, and behavioural development was examined in 45 (68%) of the 66 research reports. All 45 articles measured quality of child care in the home or centre as a composite of many different features of care, but the researchers did not all use the same measuring tool. Most studies of child care centre quality (60%) used the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), first published in 1980 by Dr. Th
