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As we enter a new century, Americans are engaged in a serious national debate about the future of education. Much of the policy discussion about educational reform is focused on the school achievement gap between children of low-income families and other children, and on the stated goal of assuring "no child left behind." Research has attributed this gap to an array of problems including poverty and community violence (Barton, 2003), but studies of education have also shown that this gap among children tends to widen as they progress through school, with poor children receiving poorer-quality education in classrooms led by less-qualified teachers (Shields et al., 1999). In practice, a central goal of reform is to ensure that children of all ages receive the same quality of education--no matter where they live, what their economic status or racial or ethnic identity may be, or what kind of program or school their families choose for them. Growing documentation that the gap originates in the extremely variable levels of readiness with which American children enter Kindergarten (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000), and that high-quality early care and education can help narrow this gap (Barnett, 1998; Barnett, Tarr, Lamy & Frede, 1999, 2001; Bowman, Donovan & Burns, 2001; Gormley & Phillips, 2003; Marshall et al., 2001), has led many to support high-quality, universally-available preschool programs.

Noting that little research about stability and continuity in the child care workforce has focused on the fast-growing sector of license-exempt informal relative care, this report focuses on labor turnover among subsidized license-exempt providers as part of a larger longitudinal study of all sectors of the child care workforce in Alameda County, California. Participating in the study were six of the seven agencies in Alameda County administering 95 percent of the child care subsidies for qualifying families. Agency lists of license-exempt child care providers receiving subsidies were examined to determine staff stability over two 6-month periods and one 12-month period. Census data were used to identify the median household income of the neighborhoods in which providers lived, and subsidy agencies provided information regarding the relationship of the provider to the children in their care and the location of care (own home versus child's home). Findings revealed that license-exempt providers receiving public subsidies were characterized by high levels of instability, with only 31 percent of providers remaining on the subsidy lists 12 months later. Provider departure rates varied by agency, with those agencies providing short-term subsidies for parents seeking employment or involved in training having higher rates of provider departure. Providers who were related to the children in their care were more likely than nonrelatives to remain on the subsidy lists. For families with stable employment, a change in child care provider was more likely to be initiated by the provider than by the parent. (Contains 11 endnotes and 20 references.) (KB)

Research on parents has shown the critical contribution that linguistic input plays in fostering early literacy, but there have been no systematic studies of the literacy of the early care and education workforce and its role in fostering quality early learning environments. This report examines the literacy levels of early childhood educators in Alameda County, California, providing initial evidence bearing on the important but missing link between adult English literacy skills and children's literacy environments. Subjects were 98 teachers and providers including teachers in Head Start, public preschools and child care programs as well as licensed family child care providers; 31% did not speak English as their native languagealthough all used English in their child care settings. Subjects completed the document literacy scale from the Tests of Applied Literacy Skills (TALS). Three major findings emerged. First, the English literacy skills reflected in the sample ranged from "highly proficient" to "extremely limited". The average score of 296 is higher than the national average of 167, but nearly one-third scored within the "limited proficiency" range. Second, the English literacy levels of child care teachers and providers are significantly associated with the language interactions, literacy environments and quality of caregiving they offer to young children; nevertheless, nearly half of the teachers and providers with minimal to poor English literacy skills worked in settings that provided young children with rich early language environments. Third, the English literacy levels of child care teachers and providers, as with other sectors of the work force, are significantly associated with their linguistic, ethnic, and educational background, and with their wages. It appears that working in a center accentuates the link between the English literacy skills of any given teacher and the quality of children's overall literacy environment. When the quality of adult-child interactions specific to the teacher or provider was the focus of observation, the researchers were unable to identify the factors that enable adults with relatively poor English literacy skills to offer high-quality early education. Findings pose implications for teacher/provider training and for future research. (Contains 32 references.) (HTH)

Enhancing the early literacy of the nation's children is now a goal shared by parents, educators, and policymakers alike. Fundamental to this goal is a workforce of early childhood educators who are themselves literate: able to become well-informed about child development, to organize learning strategies for young children, to assess children's progress, and to offer the language-rich environments in which children thrive. Yet there have been no systematic studies of the literacy of the early care and education workforce and its role in fostering the early learning environments that the nation's political, economic and education leaders are calling for so urgently. It is a small leap to speculate that the quality of caregiver-child verbal interactions and literacy-building activities would be affected by the adult's language and literacy skills. This report, which examines the literacy levels of early childhood educators in Alameda County, California, provides initial evidence bearing on the important, but missing link between adult English literacy skills and children's literacy environments. (Contains 4 endnotes and 5 figures.) [This report was produced by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley.]

The increasingly diverse ethnic composition of the nation's children poses new opportunities, but also serious challenges, to the nation's education institutions, including the early childhood programs that lay the foundation for children's school experience and achievement. In light of the controversy on this subject, its significance for educational policy, and the complexity and changing dimensions of the issues that lie at the interface of early education and cultural diversity, a workshop (Culture and Early Education: Assessing and Applying the Knowledge Base) was organized in November 1993 to examine the small but growing research literature that bears on the early education of culturally and linguistically diverse populations of children. This report on the workshop is divided into five sections. The first section explains the origin and purpose of the workshop. The second through fourth sections offer discussion of the topics that provided the structure for the workshop. Those topics are: (1) the role culture plays in shaping children's earliest learning opportunities and experiences at home; (2) how children's cultural and linguistic backgrounds affect the skills, knowledge, and expectations that children bring to school; and (3) what is known about whether and how the nature, language, or content of instruction needs to vary to assure motivation and learning for children from differing linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The final section highlights directions for future research on cultural diversity in early education. Contains over 70 references. (TJQ)

This report reviews the activities of a workshop "America's Fathers: Abiding and Emerging Roles in Family and Economic Support Policies (Washington, D.C., September 26-28, 1993). The workshop focused on the role of fathers in the American family, especially on issues related to child support, teenage fathers, fathers of children with disabilities, and inner-city poor fathers. The workshop sought to: (1) advance understanding of factors that facilitate or inhibit fathers' participation in programs designed to provide support for families; (2) document and integrate what is known about the effects of family and economic support policies on fathers' involvement, or lack thereof, with their children; (3) identify mismatches between the knowledge base and assumptions embedded in both current and proposed public policies; and (4) frame questions for research to better inform family and economic support policies. The report addresses public policy initiatives related to child support enforcement, establishment of paternity, child support assurance, custody, fathers' rights, young fatherhood programs, and teenage fatherhood prevention. It concludes by highlighting the importance of adopting a life-span perspective on fathering, approaching fathering as a negotiated role, considering the community context of fathering, and contributing to the development of innovative programs and policies for fathers. An appendix contains the workshop agenda. (Contains 113 references.) (MDM)