5 Warm and responsive interactions can create a nurturing and stable environment that enables the development of secure attachments between children and their caregivers-both those within and beyond their families. 4 The experiences and interactions children have in these early years significantly affects brain development and helps to establish the foundation for future learning. Why does quality matter?Ī large body of research has demonstrated the critical importance of the first three years of a child’s life. These indicators and supports provide a roadmap for policymakers as they develop solutions to the current child care crisis and can also serve as a guide for parents seeking to make the best and most informed choices for their child. To that end, this issue brief highlights three core indicators of high-quality early childhood programs, and identifies six structural supports that are necessary to achieve and maintain high quality. 3 However, there remains a critical need to better understand the components of high-quality programs to ensure policy solutions adequately support and promote access to quality for all families. This child care crisis has received increased attention in recent years, from policymakers, political candidates, and voters. Many families live in child care “deserts,” and even when programs are available, quality is not well-regulated or supported by local, state, or federal policies, putting it out of reach for most families. Waitlists are long and employers are inflexible, high-quality programs are expensive, and parents often lack the necessary tools to evaluate program quality. 1 However, parents face significant barriers when searching for high-quality care. Furthermore, research continues to affirm the short- and long-term benefits for children who participate in high-quality early learning programs. Increasingly, children are growing up in families where all available parents are working-out of necessity as well as choice. ![]() The need for high-quality early childhood education has never been greater.
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