The Effectiveness of School-Age Child Care Programs in Meeting the Needs of Parents

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of school-age child care in meeting the child care needs of the parents. The parents in this study had children enrolled in one of ten school-age child care programs funded by the Cooperative Extension Service (CES). These projects were located in; Hartford, Connecticut; Athens, Georgia; Aledo, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Durham, New Hampshire; Oriskany, New York; Goldsboro, North Carolina; Mount Vernon, Ohio; and Flandreau, South Dakota and were implemented in 1991 with Youth-at-Risk grants from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The objective of this study was to evaluate the parental satisfaction of the school-age child care program. This study examined the parental satisfaction based on the following items: a. The developmental and educational environment of the program. b. The program\u27s physical environment in relationship to location, health and safety conditions. c. Changes in work availability, attendance, and/or performance of the parent(s) since the child has been enrolled in the program. d. Parents\u27 feelings about themselves as a parent in relation to their child care arrangement