The relation of preschool child-care quality to children's cognitive and social developmental trajectories through second grade

The cognitive and socioemotional development of 733 children was examined l ongitudinally from ages 4 to 8 years as a function of the quality of their preschool experiences in community child-care centers, after adjusting for family selection factors related to child-care quality and development. The se results provide evidence that child-care quality has a modest long-term effect on children's patterns of cognitive and socioemotional development a t least through kindergarten, and in some cases, through second grade. Diff erential effects on children's development were found for two aspects of ch ild-care quality. Observed classroom practices were related to children's l anguage and academic skills, whereas the closeness of the teacher-child rel ationship was related to both cognitive and social skills, with the stronge st effects for the latter. Moderating influences of family characteristics were observed for some outcomes, indicating stronger positive effects of ch ild-care quality for children from more at-risk backgrounds. These findings contribute further evidence of the long-term influences of the quality of child-care environments on children's cognitive and social skills through t he elementary school years and are consistent with a bioecological model of development that considers the multiple environmental contexts that the ch ild experiences.