Study says good child care improves Oklahoma students' academic performance

A recent extensive study shows the advantages children gain in quality child care remain with them for 15 years.

BY SONYA COLBERG | Published: May 15, 2010 Comment on this article

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Tips on finding child care
→Ask friends and neighbors about the child care they’re using.

→Talk to the directors, teachers or people providing child care. Find out about their educational background, why they’re providing care, kinds of care, number of children enrolled.

→Most importantly, observe the child care setting. Find a quiet corner and spend 15 to 20 minutes watching a child that reminds you of your own. Is the child wandering aimlessly? Is the caregiver talking to the child? Is the child learning? How are the children interacting? Then select another child to watch for 15 minutes. Over a period of about an hour or so, you’ll have a sense about whether the program will work for your child.

→Go to childcarefind.okdhs.org/childcarefind/searchform.asp to find the rating of child care services. The website also has other relevant information.

→Go to the National Association for the Education of Young Children website at childcarefind.okdhs.org/childcarefind/searchform.asp for additional information.

SOURCES: DEBORAH VANDELL, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT IRVINE PROFESSOR; DIANNA ROSS, OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY CHILD DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY DIRECTOR

"It’s just remarkable what they come in not being able to do and leave ... with scissor skills, counting from one to 10, knowing their colors and shapes,” she said. "Their brains are capable of doing so much at this stage.

And just as remarkable, in Morrison’s and others’ opinions, is an extensive study that shows the advantages children gain in quality child care remain with them for 15 years.

Children who had quality child care performed better on math, reading and similar skills on standardized academic tests, according to the new study led by Deborah Vandell with the University of California at Irvine.

And those advantages didn’t fade.

"It was surprising,” said Vandell.

The effects continued into elementary school, despite different teachers, families with different experiences, changes in adolescence and social changes, Vandell said.

"At age 15, the cognitive benefits of attending high quality child care were still there and they were just about the same size as when the children started to school,” she said.

The nation’s most extensive child care study followed more than 1,300 children from birth to age 15. Trained observers visited and rated child care centers, pre-kindergarden care and other types of care, but didn’t study care provided by parents or grandparents.

Oklahoma’s status

Though Oklahoma wasn’t included in this study, Vandell said the state has a reputation in academic circles for providing high quality pre-kindergarten care.

Oklahoma standards do a good job of ensuring child care businesses and laboratories help children build a foundation for later in life, said Dianna Ross, Oklahoma State University Child Development Laboratory director.

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