Johnson Anna D, Martin Anne, Ryan Rebecca M
Georgetown University.
Child Dev. 2014 Sep-Oct;85(5):1843-51. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12254. Epub 2014 Jun 11.
The evidence to date on the federal child-care subsidy program's effect on preschool child-care quality is mixed. However, an as-yet untested outcome of subsidy receipt is subsequent child-care choice. Specifically, it is possible that subsidy receipt in toddlerhood increases the likelihood of attending other publicly funded preschool programs-Head Start and public pre-k-that provide the highest quality care available to low-income families. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n ≈ 2,100; approximately 2 years old), this study finds that subsidy receipt during toddlerhood predicts greater use of the other forms of publicly funded care in the preschool year, although only if the earlier subsidy is used in a center. These results highlight a previously unconsidered potential benefit of the subsidy program.
迄今为止，关于联邦儿童保育补贴计划对学前儿童保育质量的影响的证据喜忧参半。然而，获得补贴的一个尚未经过检验的结果是随后的儿童保育选择。具体而言，幼儿期获得补贴有可能增加参加其他由公共资金资助的学前项目（如“启智计划”和公立学前班）的可能性，这些项目为低收入家庭提供可获得的最高质量的照料。利用来自“儿童早期纵向研究——出生队列”（样本量约为2100；年龄约2岁）的数据，本研究发现，幼儿期获得补贴预示着在学前阶段会更多地使用其他形式的公共资金资助的照料，不过前提是早期补贴用于日间托育中心。这些结果凸显了补贴计划一个此前未被考虑到的潜在益处。
