Effects of Child Care Quality on Children’s Language and Mathematics Skills at Kindergarten Entry

• In Event: Literacy and Mathematics Instruction and Skills

Abstract

The early child care literature appears mixed regarding the magnitude of child care quality main effects and the existence of moderators of these effects. We conduct secondary analyses of four large datasets predicting language and mathematics outcomes from three child care quality measures and then summarize the results via meta-analytic techniques. Results indicate very small but statistically significant associations for child care quality on children’s language and mathematics outcomes and very little evidence of differential quality effects by demographic or baseline child characteristics. We discuss several possible explanations for the small effect sizes and the general lack of differential effects.

Authors

• Tran Keys, University of California - Irvine

• George Farkas, University of California - Irvine

• Margaret Burchinal, University of California - Irvine

• Greg Duncan, University of California - Irvine

• Deborah L. Vandell, University of California - Irvine

• Weilin Li, Child Trends

• Erik Ruzek, University of Virginia

• Carollee Howes, University of California - Los Angeles