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NCCIC Library
National Child Care Staffing Study: Who Cares? Child Care Teachers and the Quality of Child Care in America.
By Carollee Howes, Deborah Phillips, Marcy Whitebook
October
14,
1988
Summary: The National Child Care Staffing Study (NCCSS) was designed to explore how child care teaching staff and their working conditions affect the caliber of center-based child care. Four major policy questions were addressed: (1) Who teaches in America's child care centers? (2) What do they contribute to the quality of care provided? (3) Do centers that meet or fail to meet nationally established quality guidelines, that operate under different financial and legal auspices, and that serve families from different socioeconomic backgrounds also differ in the quality of care offered to children or the work environments offered to their staff? (4) How have center-based child care services changed from 1977 to 1988? Participants were 227 child care centers in 5 metropolitan areas: Atlanta (Georgia), Boston (Massachusetts), Detroit (Michigan), Phoenix (Arizona), and Seattle (Washington). Classroom observation and interviews with center directors and staff provided data on center characteristics and program quality, and on staff qualifications, commitment, and compensation. In Atlanta, child assessments were also conducted to examine the effects on children of such center and staff attributes as program quality and staff training. Part I of this report describes the purpose, goals, and design of the NCCSS. The six chapters of Part II concern child care teachers and the quality of care in America. Part III describes variations across centers. Part IV presents recommendations and a conclusion. Related materials, including 55 references and a glossary, are appended.
Index Terms: Child Care Providers, Compensation, Provider Training, Research, Wages, Accreditation, Attachment, Center Based Child Care, Child Care Costs, Child Development, Child Provider Relationship, Continuity Of Care, Demographics, Federal Guidelines, Federal Requirements, Professional Isolation, Provider Qualifications, Quality Of Child Care, Staff Communication, Staff Turnover, State Regulations, Studies, Teachers, Work Environment, A L Mailman Family Foundation, Carnegie Corporation Of New York, Child Care Employee Project, Ford Foundation, Foundation For Child Development, Spunk Fund Inc.
Publisher: National Center for the Early Childhood Work Force
Publication Type: Reports (Descriptive), Surveys
Pages: 186 pages
Language: English
ERIC Number: ED323031
Availability
National Center for the Early Childhood Work Force
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Suite 1037
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202-737-7700
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E-mail: ncecw@ncecw.org
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NCCIC is a service of the Child Care Bureau (CCB), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Administration for Children and Families(ACF), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services