A groundbreaking new study found one-on-one coaching and small grants made a big difference in child care programs, relatively quickly improving quality and cutting down on turnover.
Researchers found monthly intensive coaching and funding for staff scholarships, classroom and curriculum materials or parent engagement, which are part of a rating system being tested in two communities, improved quality scores. Currently, 22 states have child care rating systems, but this is one of the first studies to pinpoint what improves quality.
“I don’t get to say this very often as an evaluator, but I can confidently say that the Seeds coaching and funding improved child care quality,” Kim Boller, the lead researcher for Princeton, NJ-based Mathematica Policy Research, which conducted the evaluation, said in a statement. “Quality scores were much higher for the group with access to Seeds coaching and quality improvement funds than for the control group that did not have access to these resources.”
Researchers studied the first year of Seeds to Success, a voluntary quality ratings and improvement system for licensed child care programs being tested in two communities in Washington State, White Center, an unincorporated area near Seattle, and East Yakima. In the study, half of 66 child care businesses received intensive help and coaching, while all providers had access to professional development opportunities.
“We knew from previous research and similar systems in other states that one-on-one coaching for providers makes a difference in improving the quality of child care, but we wanted to know how much of a difference it makes. This study clearly shows that coaching is critical and needs to be part of any system we have here in Washington,” Thrive by Five Washington chief executive Nina Auerbach added in the statement. (Birth to Thrive is a product of Thrive by Five Washington, which operates the field test with the Washington State Department of Early Learning.
The results are influencing the field test, which is now in its second year and expanded to 100 child care businesses and 300 child care providers in White Center, East Yakima and now Spokane Clark and Kitsap counties. There is already an effort to implement the SEEDs child care rating system statewide.
“Seeds to Success has been an incredible opportunity to further develop our craft and focus on the practice and profession of Early Learning,” Sarah Airhart, founder and director of The Community School of West Seattle, said in a statement.
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