Equity Issues in Measurement of Home-Based Child Care Quality

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

More than 12 million children are cared for in home-based child care (HBCC). HBCC is especially prevalent in areas of concentrated poverty, communities of color, communities with high concentrations of people from immigrant backgrounds, and rural communities (NSECE Project Team 2016). HBCC providers offer care in ways that families often value, including care that is located within their own communities, offers flexible hours, and is affordable (or free).
Despite its prevalence, HBCC has historically received less attention from researchers and less support and resources from state and national child care and early education policymakers than center-based child care (Adams & Dwyer 2021; NCECQA 2020). Comparatively little is known about HBCC quality. Existing knowledge uses quality measures or standards and indicators rooted in center-based care, which may not capture the features of quality in HBCC.
This symposium will address issues in understanding quality in HBCC. The first paper summarizes a review of the strengths and weaknesses of currently available measures and indicators developed for HBCCs. The second paper presents data from a study revising an existing HBCC measure to center the perspectives of HBCC educators in quality measurement. The third paper discusses findings from a randomized controlled trial using the Climate of Healthy Interactions for Learning and Development (CHILD) tool adapted for HBCC. Along with our discussant, all presenters will discuss implications for equitably measuring HBCC quality, including ways to expand the field’s definitions of quality that indicate what is needed to serve children in different communities and contexts.

Sub Unit

• Social Policy

Chair

• Sally Atkins-Burnett, Mathematica

Discussant

• Stephanie Michelle Curenton, Boston University

Individual Presentations

• Quality in Home-Based Child Care: Summary of Existing Measures and Indicators - Presenting Author: Ann Li, Mathematica Policy Research - Massachussetts; Sally Atkins-Burnett, Mathematica

• The New York I-T CHILD Project: Strengthening Quality of Caregiving in Home-Based Child Care Programs - Presenting Author: Chin R Reyes, Yale School of Medicine; Brooke M Rumper, Yale University; Katherine Long, Yale University

• Revising a Measure of Family Child Care Quality: Taking Stock and Elevating FCC Educator Voice - Presenting Author: Rena Hallam, University of Delaware; Alison Hooper, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa