Related Research

Julie Piazza-King, Director, Family Life Child Care Program, on Quality Child Care Linked to Better Grades a Decade Later

Beginning in the 1980's, information on the value of a quality preschool education became available as a result of long term studies conducted on three model preschool programs that began 20 years earlier: the Carolina Abecedarian Project; the High Scope/ Perry Preschool Project, and the Chicago Child Parent Center. These were the first, and still the most well known, studies that demonstrated positive short term and long term results for children participating in high quality preschool programs.

Now, more technologically advanced research on brain development has determined that children develop 85 percent of their intellect, personality and skills by age five, proving that learning experiences during these early years are crucial to a child's development. These findings have also led to more detailed studies on the effect of quality child care on infants and toddlers.

In the article "Quality Child Care Linked to Better Grades a Decade Later", long term study results show a direct correlation between children involved in high quality child care settings as infants, and their scores on measures of academic and cognitive achievement. While it is clear this topic is just beginning to evolve, the studies all point to one clear conclusion: high quality child care is a must for young, rapidly developing children!