Every day in the United States, millions of children living in high-poverty neighborhoods are dropped off at a variety of early childcare settings and arrangements. When those settings are high quality, early childhood education can produce both short and long term benefits for this population, including increases in school achievement and in literacy attainment and decreases in grade retention, the likelihood of early dropout, and behavioral issues (August & Hakuta, 1997; Barnett, 1995; Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Entwisle & Alexander, 1993; Korenman, Miller, & Sjaastad, 1995; McLoyd, 1998; Wertheimer & Croan, 2003; Zill, 1999). Early childhood education, however, is neither a formalized nor mandatory educational level, which gives parents significant latitude in deciding when and where to enroll their children. Consequently, it is important to better understand the quality, availability, distribution, and use of non-parental childcare across different settings. A more nuanced perspective is also necessary because there is great variation in the types of and tendencies toward childcare enrollment along the lines of socioeconomic status, race, and geographical location. This research study presents the findings of a qualitative, interview-based study that explored what maternal primary caregivers were influenced by when they enrolled children of color in high-poverty urban childcare centers. Building upon the current literature, the study explores the ways structural, parental, and child-level factors intersected in the decision-making process and how choices continued to effect parents after initial enrollment decisions had been made. This study also addresses parental satisfaction levels. Through a series of interviews conducted with the maternal primary caregivers of children enrolled in one of three early childhood centers in a single metropolitan region, this study captures and describes childcare enrollment as a complex and nuanced process. The findings of the study speak to the nature of navigating and managing childcare decisions from the perspective of the parent. Specifically, the study found that networks of trust, maternal instincts, and lessons learned from past childcare experiences influenced the choices of the maternal primary caregivers interviewed. Educational value and children's futures were also important, as were logistics and cost. As the mothers in the study made their choices, they also negotiated structural, parental, and child factors. The literature supports these factors as influencing choice, but they have largely been examined in isolation. This study adds to the literature by describing how levels of factors intersected and overlapped with one another. More exploratory findings of the study support that maternal primary caregivers continued to manage their childcare choices long after enrollment and that childcare satisfaction is both subjective and nuanced. The experiences of the women who participated in this study shed light upon directions for future research and areas of need in terms of resources, information, and support. The mothers in this study made childcare choices based on their realties, using who or what they knew and how they felt. Further, the local governance where this study was conducted proved highly disjointed and participants showed little faith in the system. The greatest area of need, which would stand to most benefit all parents, is for meaningful increases in support, resources, and cohesion at the local level. / Urban Education

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-01-26T17:08:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 yvonearchanjomassucatebarbosa.pdf: 1825776 bytes, checksum: f88b10c17d0cd0a309e263a5d3b7267f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-01-27T11:06:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 yvonearchanjomassucatebarbosa.pdf: 1825776 bytes, checksum: f88b10c17d0cd0a309e263a5d3b7267f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-27T11:06:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 yvonearchanjomassucatebarbosa.pdf: 1825776 bytes, checksum: f88b10c17d0cd0a309e263a5d3b7267f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-17 / Com o advento do trabalho feminino, a utilização de estabelecimentos destinados à permanência de crianças com idade inferior a 5 (cinco) anos é avultada, e torna-se fundamental a avaliação dos preceitos determinados pelos órgãos competentes, no intuito de se conhecerem as premissas que determinam os elementos responsáveis por contribuir para o desenvolvimento físico e mental das crianças que fazem uso dessas instituições. Tendo em vista a importância da ciência sobre os princípios que regem a adequação para a garantia do bem-estar e da segurança dos usuários dos estabelecimentos de ensino infantil, esta pesquisa objetiva criar um instrumento para que pais, mães ou responsáveis pelas crianças possam escolher a instituição de ensino a ser utilizada por seu(s) filho(s), que melhor lhe atenda. Especificamente, esta pesquisa buscará analisar se este instrumento atende aos anseios dos pais no momento da escolha pela creche de seu filho, conseguindo ser útil e inteligível a eles. Espera-se que essa ferramenta possa avolumar as questões sobre bem-estar e segurança dentro das instituições de educação infantil e suscite nos pais e responsáveis a busca por qualidade dentro das mesmas, no intuito de preservar a integridade física e mental das crianças. / With the advent of the feminine work the need for childcare institutes for children until age 5 has increased. Therefore, the assessment of the infrastructure conditions of such institutes is essential. About their physical infrastructure, it is necessary to evaluate the rules dictated by the authorities aiming to understand the principles that determine the elements responsible for the contribution to the mental and physical development of children which attend such establishments. Regarding the importance of science on the principles governing the suitability for securing the welfare of users of pre-school establishments, this research aims to create an instrument so that parents and other people responsible for children can analyse the establishments to be used for them. More specifically, this research seeks to assess if such instrument is able to help parents to choose the right institute, being useful and intelligible for them. It is expected that this tool could swell the issues on comfort and welfare related to the early childhood establishments and inspire parents and guardians to search for quality in order to preserve the physical and mental integrity of children.