Effects of a community initiative on the qualify of child care

This study examined the effects of a broad-based community initiative (Smar t Start) to improve the quality of child care for preschoolers. Data were c ollected in 1994 and 1996 from over 180 child care centers in 12 counties i mplementing the community initiative. The quality of child care, as measure d 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 qual ity 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 comprehen sive community initiative can improve child care quality if significant fun ds and activities are focused on the issue.