Quality ECE

WFC conducts research & evaluation to improve practices in early care and education settings, including centers, Head Starts, public schools (Prek-3) and family child care homes. WFC also provides consultation & workforce development to promote quality ECE programs.

Projects

Boston Quality Inventory Ongoing since 2007 Assessment of Boston Childcare Programs This project provides a comprehensive picture of the quality of Boston's Early Care and Education programs for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, in both centers and family child care homes.

Quality Universal Pre-K

In November 2017, the City of Boston, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, and the Barr Foundation released the 2016 Boston Quality Inventory, conducted by the Wellesley Centers for Women. This study informed the design of Boston's High-Quality Universal Pre-K Plan.

Massachusetts Cost and Quality Study2000-2004 Cost and Quality of Child Care in Massachusetts The goal of the Massachusetts Cost and Quality Study was to examine full-day, year-round, community-based center care for preschool-age children (2.9 years to 5 years) and for infants and toddlers, pre-k classrooms in the public schools and family child care programs.

Boston Public Schools Early Childhood StudiesOngoing since 2006 Assessing Preschool and Kindergarten Programs The Work, Families & Children team has conducted a series of studies for the Boston Public Schools (BPS), including the BPS K1 and K2 Programs Needs Assessment, and a 2007-08 follow-up study.

Massachusetts Early Care and Education and School Readiness StudyCompleted in 2007 Early Care and Education and School Readiness: Massachusetts Researchers focus on aspects of school readiness, including social and language development, along with other data such as hours in care, so as to better understand the ways in which a child's growth is influenced by situational factors.

Family Income, Infant Child Care, and Child Development StudyCompleted in 2005 Child Care Centers' Influence on Infant Development This study followed a random sample of hundreds of children and 100 child care centers in order to examine links between family income, the quality and cost of child-care, and infant language and social development.

NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development

The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) was a longitudinal study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, to answer questions about the relationships among child care experiences, child care characteristics, and children's developmental outcomes.

The SECCYD was designed and implemented by a Steering Committee of experts in the field, including researchers from WFC. The SECCYD conducted interviews, observations and child assessments with over 1300 children and their families, from the child's birth in 1991 through 9th grade.

The NICHD SECCYD provided definitive evidence that non-maternal child care does not damage a child's attachment to their mother, and that even ordinary child care/ECE programs (not just exemplary programs such as High Scope) have a positive effect on children's cognitive development and school readiness, if they are high quality programs. More information is available here.