Phillips D A, Voran M, Kisker E, Howes C, Whitebook M
Board on Children and Families, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC 20418.
Child Dev. 1994 Apr;65(2 Spec No):472-92.
Data from a nationally representative survey of child care centers and a 5-site, observational study of centers were used to examine the quality of care provided to children from low-income families. Comparisons were made to a national sample of centers; among Head Start, public school-sponsored, and other community-based subsidized centers; and among centers that served families from differing socioeconomic groups. The quality of care in centers that served predominantly low-income children was adequate, but highly variable, with structural indices exhibiting higher quality than observations of global quality and of staff-child interactions. When compared to Head Start and public school-sponsored centers, the community-based centers had smaller groups and fewer children per teacher for preschoolers, but also had less well educated and compensated staff. Centers that predominantly served children from upper-income families provided the highest quality of care across multiple indices, and those that predominantly served children from middle-income families almost uniformly provided the poorest quality of care. The centers that served children from low-income families did not differ significantly in quality from the upper-income centers on most indices. However, the teachers in these programs were observed to be less sensitive and more harsh than teachers in the centers that served more advantaged families. The implications of the findings for research and policy are discussed.
一项针对全国儿童保育中心的代表性调查数据以及一项在五个地点对保育中心进行的观察性研究数据，被用于检验为低收入家庭儿童提供的照料质量。与全国保育中心样本进行了比较；在“启智计划”中心、公立学校资助的中心以及其他社区补贴中心之间进行了比较；还在为不同社会经济群体家庭服务的中心之间进行了比较。主要为低收入儿童服务的保育中心的照料质量尚可，但差异很大，结构指标显示的质量高于整体质量观察以及师生互动观察。与“启智计划”中心和公立学校资助的中心相比，社区补贴中心的学龄前儿童群体规模更小，师生比例更低，但员工的受教育程度和薪酬也更低。主要为高收入家庭儿童服务的保育中心在多个指标上提供的照料质量最高，而主要为中等收入家庭儿童服务的保育中心几乎在所有方面提供的照料质量最差。在大多数指标上，为低收入家庭儿童服务的保育中心与高收入家庭儿童服务的保育中心在质量上没有显著差异。然而，观察发现，这些项目中的教师比为条件更优越家庭服务的保育中心的教师缺乏敏感性且更严厉。文中讨论了这些研究结果对研究和政策的启示。
