Parents pleased with child care options and qualityApril, 2008A recent survey of 430 parents in southeastern Wisconsin finds the vast majority are satisfied with the quality of their child care arrangements and their options for child care. In fact, most say they would not change anything about their child care arrangement if they had the chance, and nearly two-thirds report a willingness to pay more for their current child care.
The high rates of satisfaction may contradict other research on child care quality in the region which, using more empirical methods, has found that the majority of child care providers are of mediocre quality. Parents' general satisfaction with the quality of their child care providers also may explain why legislative efforts to improve child care quality in Wisconsin have found little grass roots support. Parents may be satisfied with what experts may deem lower quality child care either because they are not aware the quality is not optimal, or because they value different aspects of quality than do researchers and policymakers.
