CHILD-CARE COST AND QUALITY

This article summarizes what is known about the cost and quality of fu ll-time child care in centers and family child care homes, and about p arents' attention to quality in making child care choices. It relies p rimarily upon two recent studies which are among the first to collect detailed information about child care operating costs: the Cost, Quali ty, and Child Outcomes in Child Care Centers study(1) and the Economic s of Family Child Care studies Results indicate that mediocre quality is the rule and that parents often do not choose quality settings for their children. At the present time, child care quality is only modest ly related to the cost of providing services. In part, the modesty of this relationship reflects the low Rages of child care staff the avail ability of in-kind donations in the nonprofit sector, and the altruist ic motivations of many providers that depress direct costs and the fee s charged for child care. The article concludes with recommendations f or future action: (I) launch consumer education efforts; (2) implement higher standards for child care at the state level; (5) avoid public policies that encourage people to become child care providers if they have no interest in such a career; (4) increase public and private inv estments in child care; and (5) develop the means to compensate child care workers as is appropriate for their levels of training, experienc e, and responsibility.