Skip Navigation
Iowa State University Extension

Topics

Home and Family

Children

Early Care and Education Research

preschool

Quality early care and education is important for young children and their families. Parents, educators, business leaders and public policy officials want the best for young children.

  • Educators are concerned about children’s learning.
  • Employers are interested in support for working parents
  • Policy makers view child care as an economic development issue.
  • Parents want safe and nurturing care.

In the first five years of life, a child in full time care will spend 13,000 hours in care.  By comparison, over the next 13 years, children spend 16, 000 hrs in school.

Educators, policy makers and parents are concerned about the quality of this time, because we now know that the first three to five years of a child’s brain development form a crucial foundation for later development. Research also shows the quality of child care influences how well children will do in school later on -- both academically and socially.  

Iowa State University is conducting a number of exciting research studies examining Iowa’s child care. Key findings:

  • Much of Iowa's child care is of poor or mediocre quality.
  • Over all, 20% of all observed Iowa child care was judged to be good, 58 percent was judged to be mediocre, and 22% percent was poor.
  •  Nearly 20% of the observed infant child care centers in Iowa offered poor quality care; none were offering good quality care.
  • About 40% of the observed family child care homes offered poor quality care.

 

Iowa caregivers also report:

  • Lower levels of education
  • Low income
  • Lack of benefits
  • High turnover rates
  • Inadequate training history

 

In the 2003 Early Care and Education Workforce Study (pdf), a very high percentage of teachers and assistant teachers reported that they had not completed the hours of annual training required by licensing during the previous 12 months.

  • 34 percent of registered Family Child Care providers reported receiving NO child care related training within a 12 month period.
  • A significant number of Iowa’s children are cared for in unregistered homes. There are NO training requirements for unregistered providers. Less than 1% of non-registered, non-career providers reported taking any training in previous 12 months.
  • The fees that parents pay do fuel the economy.  For every $1 invested, 66 cents is generated in the Iowa economy.

 

Check out the following research articles to learn more about important early childhood research being conducted by Iowa State: