At a time when the importance of education to individual
fulfillment and economic success has focused attention on the
need to better prepare children for academic achievement, the research
literature suggests ways to make gains toward that end.
Parents are relying on child care and preschool programs in ever
larger numbers. We know that the quality of the programs in
which they leave their children matters. If there is a single critical
component to quality, it rests in the relationship between the child
and the teacher/caregiver, and in the ability of the adult to be
responsive to the child. But responsiveness extends in many directions:
to the child’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical
characteristics and development.