LOEB: Those in child care were more ready for school. Linda Cicero

Time magazine’s March 22 cover trumpets “The Case for Staying Home.” Two studies in Child Development last July linked longer hours spent in child care centers with increased behavioral problems.

Not so fast, say assistant professor of education Susanna Loeb, ’88, and her colleagues. At least among poor children, their new study finds, attending child care is beneficial. Those in child care centers were six months ahead of their home-based counterparts in cognitive growth and school-readiness skills; those in high-quality centers with stable, college-educated staffs were eight months ahead. Moreover, the study did not find increased aggression among the children who attended centers.

“Our findings should soothe parents’ worries over whether more time spent in child care is okay for their young kids,” says Bruce Fuller, a study co-author and UC-Berkeley professor of public policy and education.

The results, which were published February 10 in Child Development, are part of a multiyear study of children of single mothers who entered the workforce after the welfare reforms of 1996. Notes Fuller, “Public investments to improve access to quality child care appear to be paying off in spades.”