The cost and quality of full day, year-round early care and education in Massachusetts

This report provides the results of the first phase of the Massachusetts Cost and Quality Study, which examined community-based child care for preschool-aged children, specifically, its cost and quality, as well as their relationship. The study found that in Massachusetts, the cost of child care increased with its quality. Designed to allow cross-state comparisons using the results from the Cost, Quality and Child Outcomes study and the NICHD Early Child Care study, this report indicates that Massachusetts child care was as good as or better than that provided in other states. Further, child care for pre-schoolers in Massachusetts was good overall, although there were tremendous variations within the state, with over half of the observed classrooms not meeting the ECERS-R benchmark for good care. The study also found that low- and moderate-income families were less likely to have access to quality preschool child care.