107th Congress

Access to High Quality Child Care Act

S. 2758

Background

About 14 million children under the age of 5, including 6 million infants and toddlers, are in some type of child care arrangement. Many of them are in child care every week for many hours. It has been estimated that 65 percent of parents with children under the age of 6 years are working today; more than half of mothers with infants are in the workforce. While these parents work, their children are being cared for in a variety of settings. S. 2758, the Access to High Quality Child Care Act, is geared toward improving the quality of care to promote school readiness while expanding child care assistance to more working poor families.

Provisions of the Legislation/Impact on NIH

S. 2758 contains a provision that would require the Secretaries, acting through the appropriate officers of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (including the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Mental Health) and the U.S. Department of Education, to support a collaborative research project through a clearinghouse. This clearinghouse would identify, compile, and disseminate information on effective, research-based, early care and early education (including prereading and prelanguage) programs, curriculums, and teaching strategies. The teaching strategies would address cognitive development, language development, social and emotional development, physical and motor development, and emergent literacy and phonemic awareness. The clearinghouse would compile information that describes the systems of early care and early education programs and activities in States eligible to receive grants under the legislation. The clearinghouse would also compile the methods that eligible States have used to establish successful systems and disseminate that information to other States. The clearinghouse would also identify best practices relating to early care and early education; compile and disseminate information that describes these practices; identify and evaluate model tools for conducting observational assessments in kindergarten; and compile and disseminate information that describes the tools.

Status and Outlook

S. 2758 was introduced on July 18, 2002, by Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT), and was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. On September 4, it was reported favorably by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. No further action occurred during the 107th Congress.