Better-quality child care has real effects

In a study, higher quality child care showed a positive relation to higher levels of social functioning in children both at school and at home. Those children who attended higher-level child care also had fewer reports of problem behaviors and developed stronger bonds with their mothers. Children in classes that met fewer or none of these guidelines fell below average in these same areas, often related to economic standing. "The flip-side of the 'high-quality equals high-ability' finding is that lower quality child care relates to a lower level of cognitive and language ability in a child, as well as lower school readiness scores, and more problem behaviors," says Kathleen McCartney, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and one of the study's principal investigators.