Building Equitable Mixed-Delivery Pre-K Systems by Including Family Child Care: Perspectives From States, Researchers, and Practitioners

Session Type: Working Group Roundtable

Abstract

Research suggests families may enroll children in family child care (FCC) settings because there is often a cultural and/or linguistic match between children and educators and because children have the opportunity to stay with the same educator from birth – preschool in a home-like setting. Research also indicates that families with low-incomes and those from minoritized and marginalized communities (e.g., communities of color, immigrant communities, rural communities) are more likely to utilize home-based child care. Yet FCC educators are not often included in the state-funded mixed delivery PreK systems that could support them to deliver high-quality early learning to these families. This working group roundtable brings together researchers and practitioners to discuss equitable inclusion of FCC educators in mixed-delivery PreK systems.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Early Education and Child Development

Chair

• Alexandra R. Patterson, Home Grown

Papers

• Equitable Inclusion of Family Child Care in Public Pre-K: A Conceptual Framework and State Perspectives - Jason Hustedt, University of Delaware

• Implementing Public Pre-K in Family Child Care: Educator Perspectives - Samantha Melvin, Erikson Institute; Adrienne Briggs, Lil Bits Family Child Care Home

• Funding FCC Educators to Participate in Publicly-Funded Pre-K: Costs and Considerations - Erin Harmeyer, National Institute for Early Education Research; Georgenne Weisenfeld, National Institute for Early Education Research; Karin Garver, Rutgers University