Giving Compass' Take:

• New York City is planning to add home-based childcare for 3-year-olds into early childhood education, but government officials must consider the factors relating to quality care and sustainability.  

• Is there an emerging trend toward funding more nuanced and creative early childhood care models? 

• Read more about whether or not it is time to deregulate childcare. 

The living room may not have been what New York City’s mayor had in mind a year ago when he ran for re-election on the ambitious promise of free preschool for all of the city’s 3-year-olds.

That door is now open.

New York City recently introduced a plan that would bring 3-K into home-based childcare. It’s a move that other cities and districts are likely to watch closely.

Adding a critical mass of family daycares to this 3-K mix will allow the city to more easily serve 3-year-olds in neighborhoods where space in schools and childcare centers is tight — and where home-based childcare already accounts for the bulk of offerings.

There are ways this could go wrong. Working in the more loosely regulated, varied and geographically scattered world of home care is a departure from the education department’s current pre-K portfolio of schools and childcare centers.

If family daycares or the network organizations that the city’s education department plans to support them are not themselves adequately supported and compensated, or if standards for them are set too low, these programs could provide sub-standard services to the low-income children that the 3-K initiative is particularly keen to benefit. It could also mean that children in under-resourced neighborhoods are taught by the least-qualified teachers.

The challenge is to present a vision for what 3-K in family daycare looks like that is inclusive of a significant number of home providers, but also holds them to high standards and offers ample supports. To do this, it will need to make careful decisions about what is reasonable to ask of teachers in the family daycares, and how to help them succeed.

Read the full article about providing 3-K childcare by Kendra Hurley at The Hechinger Report