Agenda - 06-17-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Daycare Effects on Preschool 3 Introduction Children born into impoverished families (18% of all children in the United States) are significantly more likely to exhibit intellectual underachievement than are their middle-class peers (reference?). Poverty has been associated with both gradual declines in intellectual performances across the preschool period and with the sudden "dip" in the scores that appears to occur when the tests become predominantly verbal, i.e., at 18-24 months, (Belsky & Steinberg, 1978; Etaugh, 1980). The detrimental effects associated with poverty on preschool intellectual development are lessened when these children attend quality daycare centers. Several longitudinal research projects have examined the effects of university-based intervention daycare on the intellectual development of poverty children. These projects have demonstrated that high-quality, cognitively-oriented, group daycare helps to prevent the decline in intellectual performance typically observed in poverty children (Ramey, Yeates, & Short, 1984; Lazar, Darlington, M urray, Royce, & Snipper 1982). In particular, the marked decline in intellectual performance beginning at about 18 months seen in the comparison groups of children tends to be much less pronounced in the children receiving the high quality university-based daycare. In a comprehensive review of the literature, Ramey, Bryant, and Suarez (1986) determined that the size of these treatment effects appears to be related to the intensity of treatment. Intensity was indexed by the amount, extent, and depth of contact of the project staff had with the children and fa milies. Public policy has been based on the assumption that attending a quality corn m unity daycare center prevents the detrimental effects associated with poverty on the intellectual development of poverty children (Washington & Dye mande, 1985). An indicator of quality care has been whether the daycare center met federal standards and/or received Title X X funds. Only one large-scale study has empirically studied whether corn munity daycare aids in preventing the negative effects of poverty on