Work Continues to Include Family Child Care Providers in Public Pre-K Systems

Aaron Loewenberg

One of the successes in early education in the 21st century has been the slow, but steady rise in access to public pre-K programs for three- and four-year-olds. In the 2022-2023 school year, about 35 percent of four-year-olds and 7 percent of three-year-olds were enrolled in public pre-K programs, up from 14 percent of fours and only 3 percent of threes back in 2002. While this rise in pre-K access is a positive development, the numbers also show that there's room to improve when it comes to ensuring access to pre-K for all young children.

In an attempt to extend the reach of publicly funded pre-K programs, policymakers and advocates are turning towards a strategy of increasing pre-K enrollment spots beyond school and center-based classrooms, such as in family child care (FCC) homes. Family child care, also known as home-based child care, is offered in a licensed provider's private home, and typically consists of small groups of children of different ages overseen by one or two caregivers.

I wrote earlier about the decline over the years in the number of FCC providers across the country and how states are trying various strategies for boosting their numbers. Allowing FCC providers to participate in public pre-K programs could be one method of growing the number of these providers while meeting the preferences of many parents. Research suggests that parents who prioritize convenience and affordability are more likely to use home-based child care, and some parents find home-based care to be more culturally and linguistically responsive. "In some areas, such as in rural areas, they may be the only option for families. It's really important to ensure that educators in these areas, where there may be many family child care homes and not a lot of options for families, are supported to offer quality programming that allows children to flourish," says Erin Harmeyer, assistant research professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).

Adrienne Briggs, a FCC provider since 1992 in Philadelphia, is the owner and operator of Lil' Bits Family Child Care Home and has been providing pre-K for seven years as part of the city's PHLpreK program. Currently, Briggs cares for six children in her home; three of those children are in pre-K and the other three are infants and toddlers. It was the children's parents who ultimately convinced her to offer pre-K as the kids grew older. "I used to only keep the children until they were three years old, but my parents would always have such a hard time switching them over. I would have them from birth to three, and at three they still weren't ready to switch them to the bigger settings," says Briggs.

There's a lot of room to grow when it comes to providing pre-K access via home-based providers. According to research from NIEER, about half of state-funded pre-K programs in 24 states allow FCC providers to receive pre-K funds either directly from the state or via subcontracting. However, seven of those 24 states reported that no FCC providers were actually participating in the program despite it being permitted. Out of the 13 pre-K programs that were able to report FCC enrollment, a majority served less than one percent of pre-K children in FCC homes.

There are certainly challenges inherent in providing pre-K in a home-based setting. What does quality look like when providing pre-K in a home filled with children of all different ages as opposed to a traditional classroom? What sort of curriculum is a good fit for FCC providers simultaneously teaching pre-K and providing care for younger children? And how can training be provided to ensure that home-based providers possess the same knowledge and competencies as their school and center-based counterparts?

The research base on early learning in home-based settings is limited compared to research focused on pre-K in school and center-based settings. The research that has been conducted, however, suggests a few conditions for success when it comes to including FCC providers in pre-K programs, including having a highly-qualified teaching staff; academic supports for educators (such as a research-based curriculum aligned with the state's early learning standards); and environments that support learning (such as reasonable group sizes and ratios). "The biggest challenge was that, at first, I was using two different curriculums, one for the younger children, and then the pre-K one. We had to learn how to merge those two together or find something where we could adapt the curriculum, rather than me being the one person trying to give two different curriculums to a group of children in the same room. We realized we could use the same curriculum for all these children and just adjust it for the different ages," says Briggs.

A recently launched national initiative led by NIEER and Home Grown aims to help FCC providers in four states integrate into publicly funded pre-K programs. Through a cohort-based peer learning community that meets monthly, members will learn more about topics including program design, quality standards, pre-K supports, equitable financing, and oversight and governance. Cohort members also receive technical assistance from experts and are eligible for planning grants of $25,000 to support implementation thanks to philanthropic supporters. "One of our big roles is offering research-based technical assistance. We want to support these states and localities with what we've found in our research around family child care incorporation into state-funded pre-K systems," says Harmeyer.

The states of Alabama, Michigan, Nevada, and North Carolina make up the inaugural cohort, and there's a possibility that their cohort will be the first of many. The hope is that these types of initiatives will keep the momentum going for funding pre-K programs in home-based settings that provide families with choices while maintaining the high standards that ensure positive outcomes.