Citation

Bryant DM, Maxwell KL, Burchinal M. Early Child Res. Q. 1999; 14(4): 449-464.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0885-2006(99)00029-0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examined the effects of a broad-based community initiative (Smart Start) to improve the quality of child care for preschoolers. Data were collected in 1994 and 1996 from over 180 child care centers in 12 counties implementing the community initiative. The quality of child care, as measured by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS; Harms & Clifford, 1980), was significantly higher in 1996 than 1994, both across the entire sample and across the subset of 91 centers observed in both years. The quality of child care in 1996 was significantly related to the number of local quality improvement activities in which the child care centers participated. This and additional evidence presented in the paper show that a comprehensive community initiative can improve child care quality if significant funds and activities are focused on the issue.