Marianne M. Hillemeier|Paul L. Morgan|George Farkas|Steve Maczuga
Quality Disparities in Child Care for At-Risk Children: Comparing Head Start and Non-Head Start Settings
Pennsylvania State University|Pennsylvania State University|University of California, Irvine|Pennsylvania State University
study objectives describe child care type quality experienced developmentally atrisk children examine quality differences head start nonhead start settings identify factors associated receiving higherquality child care data analyzed early childhood longitudinal survey birth cohort prospective study nationally representative sample us children born 2001 sample consisted 7500 children assessed 48 months age outcome interest child care quality measured early childhood environmental rating scale center care family day care rating scale family day care results descriptive multivariate regression analyses presented less onethird poor children head start child care quality higher head start centers centers particularly among poor children 475 vs 428 p 0001 hispanics 490 vs 445 p 0001 whites 489 vs 451 p 0001 african americans experienced lowest quality care head start nonhead start centers quality disadvantage associated head start family care settings especially low birthweight children 204 head start vs 358 nonhead start p 0001 lower family day care quality associated less maternal education african american hispanic ethnicity centerbased head start provides higher quality child care atrisk children expansion services likely facilitate school readiness populations quality disadvantages head start family day care settings worrisome warrant investigation