Examining Child Care Need Among Military Families

Examining Child Care Need Among Military Families
Author: Susan M. Gates
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 127
Release: 2006
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0833039024

The Department of Defense (DoD) supports the largest employer-sponsored system of high-quality child care in the country. Through accredited child development centers (CDCs), family child care (FCC) homes, youth programs, and other before- and after-school programs, the DoD provides care to over 174,000 military children aged 0 through 12 years. To evaluate the system's ability to meet the child care needs of military families, DoD needs information on the magnitude of potential need. For a number of years, the DoD has been using a formula that translates the basic demographic characteristics of the military population into an estimate of the potential need for child care (see the companion monograph Providing Child Care to Military Families: The Role of the Demand Formula in Defining Need and Informing Policy, MG-387-OSD, by Joy S. Moini, Gail L. Zellman, and Susan M. Gates). The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) asked the RAND Corporation to collect data on child care need and child care use, assess the validity of the DoD formula, and recommend improvements to the formula. Data for the assessment came from a 2004 survey of military families about child care issues. This technical report describes and analyzes the data from that survey. It documents survey methods, defines three outcomes of potential interest to DoD (reported child-care usage, unmet child-care need, and unmet child-care preference), presents detailed results of an analysis of these outcomes among military families, and analyzes the relationships between these outcomes and military readiness and retention. For example, the data identified an important relationship between unmet child-care preference and propensity to leave the military: Families that express unmet child-care preference-that is, they are using one form of child care but would prefer another-are also more likely to report that child care issues might drive them to leave the military. This report will be of interest to officials responsible for DoD child-care policy and other quality of life issues. It should also be of interest to child care managers in other federal organizations, child care researchers, and child care policymakers at the national, state, and local levels who grapple with the issue of estimating the need for child care.

Examining the Cost of Military Child Care

Examining the Cost of Military Child Care
Author: Gail Zellman
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2002
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9780833031235

The Department of Defense (DoD) has developed an impressive system for delivering quality child care to the children of DoD empl.

From Neurons to Neighborhoods

From Neurons to Neighborhoods
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 610
Release: 2000-11-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309069882

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

Providing Child Care to Military Families

Providing Child Care to Military Families
Author: Joy S. Moini
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2006
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 083303927X

The Office of the Secretary of Defense asked the RAND Corporation to assess the Department of Defense (DoD) child-care demand formula as a tool for translating information on military families into measures of potential child-care need and to suggest ways that the tool might be improved. The authors assess the validity of the DoD formula in meeting child-care needs, analyze the factors that influence key child-care outcomes, and address the broader issue of how DoD can refine its goals for military child care.

Economics of Child Care

Economics of Child Care
Author: David M. Blau
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
Total Pages: 207
Release: 1991-09-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1610440609

"David Blau has chosen seven economists to write chapters that review the emerging economic literature on the supply of child care, parental demand for care, child care cost and quality, and to discuss the implications of these analyses for public policy. The book succeeds in presenting that research in understandable terms to policy makers and serves economists as a useful review of the child care literature....provides an excellent case study of the value of economic analysis of public policy issues." —Arleen Leibowitz, Journal of Economic Literature "There is no doubt this is a timely book....The authors of this volume have succeeded in presenting the economic material in a nontechnical manner that makes this book an excellent introduction to the role of economics in public policy analysis, and specifically child care policy....the most comprehensive introduction currently available." —Cori Rattelman, Industrial and Labor Relations Review

Child Care

Child Care
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 65
Release: 2002
Genre: Child care
ISBN: 1428944087

Assessing the Validity of the Qualistar Early Learning Quality Rating and Improvement System as a Tool for Improving Child-care Quality

Assessing the Validity of the Qualistar Early Learning Quality Rating and Improvement System as a Tool for Improving Child-care Quality
Author: Gail Zellman
Publisher: Rand Corporation
Total Pages: 129
Release: 2008
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0833044958

As a result of the generally low quality of child care in the United States, quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs) are proliferating in the child-care arena. This study examines the QRIS developed by Qualistar Early Learning, a nonprofit organization based in Colorado, evaluating how reliable the system's components are, whether the QRIS process helped providers to improve, and whether and how much children benefit from such improvement.

Examining the Implementation and Outcomes of the Military Child Care Act of 1989

Examining the Implementation and Outcomes of the Military Child Care Act of 1989
Author: Gail Zellman
Publisher: RAND Corporation
Total Pages: 296
Release: 1998
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN:

This report examines the implementations and outcomes of the Military Child Care Act of 1989 through review and abstraction of 336 military headquarters documents, a worldwide mail survey of 245 child development program managers, and face-to-face interviews with 175 individuals at the Department of Defense.

Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society

Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2019-10-25
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309489539

The U.S. military has been continuously engaged in foreign conflicts for over two decades. The strains that these deployments, the associated increases in operational tempo, and the general challenges of military life affect not only service members but also the people who depend on them and who support them as they support the nation â€" their families. Family members provide support to service members while they serve or when they have difficulties; family problems can interfere with the ability of service members to deploy or remain in theater; and family members are central influences on whether members continue to serve. In addition, rising family diversity and complexity will likely increase the difficulty of creating military policies, programs and practices that adequately support families in the performance of military duties. Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society examines the challenges and opportunities facing military families and what is known about effective strategies for supporting and protecting military children and families, as well as lessons to be learned from these experiences. This report offers recommendations regarding what is needed to strengthen the support system for military families.

Examining the Effects of Accreditation on Military Child Development Center Operations and Outcomes

Examining the Effects of Accreditation on Military Child Development Center Operations and Outcomes
Author: Gail Zellman
Publisher: RAND Corporation
Total Pages: 64
Release: 1994
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN:

This study explores the implementation of one provision of the Military Child Care Act of 1989. The MCCA aims to improve the availability and quality of child care services in the military. It also seeks to standardize the delivery and quality of care across installations and military services. Most changes focus on staffing, training, compensation, and funding, but one provision requires that at least 50 military child development centers (CDCs) be accredited in accordance with the standards of a national accrediting body for early childhood programs. This report analyzes the accreditation process, professionalism, and interactions; explores the perceived effect of accreditation on child outcomes; and assesses the incremental value of accreditation over the benefits associated with DoD certification of CDCs.