taken collectively, the studies draw a number of conclusions. perhaps the most pervasive finding is that formal childcare contributes to cognitive development for preschool children, especially for economically disadvantaged children, and leads to greater intellectual competence and cognitive maturity for a broad range of children. the most important determinants of the quality of early education-for cognitive as well as social and affective development-have been found to include the presence of teacher and caregivers who have specialized training in child development and early childhood education, low staff-child ratios, quality of the curriculum and other characteristic of the interactions among children and adults.