A Short-Term Cost- Effectiveness Evaluation of Better-Quality Daycare Centers

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. 1 Abstract * Studies of the effects of pre-school programs on child development in developing countries have found scant impact. This study was conducted to reconcile the importance of daycare for child development with the empirical estimates of small effects. Using a random sample of 500 children from 100 daycare centers in the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), the study combines a flexible function relating child development to daycare center quality. A hedonic cost function permits an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of better-quality daycare centers. The study finds that the developmental age of children attending high-quality services is greater than that of children attending low-quality centers. It also finds that quality improvement can be measured in a number of ways, with different cost implications or impacts on child development. JEL Classification: I21, I22, D61 Terms of use: Documents in

Early Child Education

“…Overall development of children in the highest quality creches was signifi cantly higher than in the worst creches, particularly in terms of social and cognitive development. Importantly, the authors also note that improvements in the quality of activities and in program structure are relatively inexpensive ways to enhance the quality of early child education (Barros et al 2011a). In contrast, other kinds of investments such as infrastructure improvements had no impact on child development for the same group of creches.…”

“…Likewise, the previously-discussed 2001 study of 100 creches in Rio de Janeiro found major quality gaps between the best and worst creches. The size of these gaps is striking: The best fi fth of creches were rated two and a half times be er in activities and program structure than were the worst fi fth of creches (Barros et al 2011a). Source: Fundação Carlos Chagas (2010).…”

¿Cómo se mide la calidad de los servicios de cuidado infantil?: Guía de herramientas

“…This statement is supported by both biological evidence (the first 1,000 days of life, from conception, as a window of opportunity for nutritional interventions) and the literature on child psychology (sensitive periods for attachment or language development). Remarkably little information exists on the di erences in service quality parameters critical to the proper development of infants and toddlers, as compared to those required for preschoolers (Barros et al, 2011). Process variables, 2 which characterize the quality of child care routines and interactions between children and caregivers, become even more important for this age group.…”

“…In Brazil, Barros et al (2011) analyzed data on child care cost and quality, along with development indicators and family CHAPTER 1 characteristics of children in the city of Sao Paulo. The authors found that it was process dimensions rather than structural ones that had a significant association with children's development outcomes.…”

Centros infantiles en Bolivia: Atención, infraestructura y calidad de servicios de desarrollo infantil

“…La literatura muestra que es la dimensión de procesos, más que la estructural, que está asociada con resultados en el desarrollo de los niños, aparte que inversiones en la mejora de los procesos es mucho más costo-efectiva que aquellas en las dimensiones estructurales como infraestructura (Barros et al 2011). Sin embargo, el punto de partida para evaluar la calidad generalmente son los aspectos estructurales ya que sin que estos alcancen unos estándares mínimos los aspectos de procesos son difíciles de lograr.…”