Home-Based Child Care Provider Education and Specialized Training: Associations With Caregiving Quality and Toddler Social-Emotional and Cognitive Outcomes |
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| Authors: | Diana D Schaack Vi Nhuan Le Claude Messan Setodji |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Colorado Denverdiana.schaack@ucdenver.edu;3. NORC at the University of Chicago;4. RAND |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACTResearch Findings: Although there has been considerable research on the associations between the qualifications of teachers in center-based settings and preschool-age children’s developmental outcomes, very little is known about the relationships between home provider qualifications and the developmental outcomes of toddlers who attend licensed family child care settings or unregulated family, friend, and neighbor care settings. Analyzing a sample of toddlers and their providers drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, we found positive relationships between home-based quality and higher education degree (defined as an associate’s degree or at least a bachelor’s degree), field of major, and coursework in early childhood education or a related field. However, provider qualifications were unrelated to children’s cognitive outcomes and related to a limited number of social-emotional outcomes. Practice or Policy: Our results suggest that as states consider the spectrum of supports needed for strengthening home-based child care in ways that facilitate responsive and developmentally supportive caregiving, strategies should include opportunities for home-based care providers to pursue higher education. A more nuanced analysis of the content and comprehensiveness of providers’ formal education is needed to better understand relationships between toddlers’ social and cognitive development and providers’ formal education. |
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