More Stars, Higher Quality Child Care, Cultivates Productive Citizens of North Carolina
More research that shows the relationship between high quality care and child outcomes. The University of North Carolina-Greensboro has a new fact sheet documenting research that demonstrates North Carolina’s child care system supports working families and economic development. Highlights include:
Recent Study Validated 4 and 5 Star Centers Provide Higher Quality Child Care
- Children of all age groups experienced significantly higher quality learning environments and received more appropriate instructional and emotional support in 4 and 5 star centers compared to their peers in centers with 1 to 3 stars.
Research Conducted in North Carolina indicates High Quality Child Care is Less Stressful and Fosters Cognitive and Emotional Skills that Prepare Children for School and to be Contributing Citizens of North Carolina.
- Children had more positive learning experiences and were more engaged in learning activities in higher quality child care.
- Young children demonstrated more advanced cognitive and social skills in higher quality child care.
- Preschoolers in classrooms with more appropriate instructional and emotional support from teachers had lower stress levels; whereas preschoolers with less instructional and emotional support had higher stress levels with abnormal physiological changes in stress hormones.
More Stars, Higher Quality Child Care, Cultivates Productive Citizens of North Carolina
- Child care programs mold brain architecture with 90% of the brain developing during the first 3 years of life.
- Investments in young children yield the greatest economic return to the state.
- The cognitive, social, and emotional outcomes of young children, resulting from the quality of their child care experiences, defines North Carolina’s future workforce and economy.
Download the fact sheet.
