Reporter's Notebook

Washington

Defining Quality Child Care Proving Elusive, Experts Say

In light of the growing demand from parents and state legislatures for high-quality early-childhood programs, child-care experts convened here last week to discuss ways of measuring both the readiness of young children for school and the effectiveness of the programs that aim to prepare them.

Part of the two-day workshop, sponsored by the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, focused simply on defining the meaning of quality in child-care settings. The workshop attracted researchers, children’s...