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Child Care and Early Education: Satisfaction with Services Among Rural Families

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Abstract

Parents were surveyed regarding their satisfaction with early childhood services. Participants were 65 families who had at least 1 child younger than 5 years of age enrolled in a child care center or an early education program in a rural county; a majority of respondents were single, African American females with annual incomes below $20,000. Parents responded to the 20 items of the questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The average score for overall level of satisfaction was 4.64 for the child care group and 4.37 for the early education group; the average for individual items ranged from a low of 3.85 to a high of 4.64. Differences between child care centers and early education programs were not statistically significant. Applications, implications, and recommendations for early childhood services are discussed.

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Teleki, J.K., Buck-Gomez, S. Child Care and Early Education: Satisfaction with Services Among Rural Families. Early Childhood Education Journal 29, 161–166 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014532524941

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