High-quality care before entering school has a significant impact on long-term outcomes.
Tell Me More
While there’s no evidence that anyone specific preschool program is better than another, substantial evidence underscores the fact that high-quality care leads to both short and long-term advantages to your child. The quality of care is not only reflected in the training of staff, planning, and curriculum practices, and in the wider care environment but in the staff’s sensitivity towards the emotional and intellectual needs of children under their care.
Children who attend higher-quality child care centers score higher than those who received lower-quality care on measures of cognitive, language, math abilities and social skills (interactions with peers, problem behaviors) in child care and throughout the transition to school, according to researchers. High-quality child care continues to positively predict children’s performance well into their school careers.
Young children receiving poor-quality childcare are reported to be less prepared for school and tend to have less success in the early phases of school than students who received quality care in their preschool years.
So What?
Though many children will be cared for at home during their early years and others will be exposed to daycare situations, there’s no question that providing appropriate opportunities and guidance for child development leads to long-lasting benefits and helps to ensure school readiness. Failing to do so can be linked to developmental delays and potential long-term problems. Quality care programs can even improve a child’s academic achievement if coming from a family with a disadvantaged socioeconomic status.
A note about the author:
Dr. Randa Grob-Zakhary, MD Ph.D. is the Founder of The Babyboost Institute for Early Learning and Development. Want more tips? Purchase Babyboost: 50 Critical Facts on Amazon.
