Parent Recruitment Form

Your participation in this important research study can help us improve the quality of child care in the U.S.

DEAR PARENTS,

We are inviting you and your child to participate in the Study of the Program for Infant Toddler Care. The Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC) is a training program for child care providers. Your child care provider is interested in participating in the study.

What is the Study of the Program for Infant Toddler Care?

This study is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the study is to improve our understanding of how the Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC) helps child care providers and children in child care. Several hundred child care providers in California and Arizona will participate in the study. Half of these providers will receive the PITC training in 2007 and the other half will have an option to receive it in 2009. Assignment of the providers to these two groups will be random, as in a lottery. Researchers will be visiting all of the child care programs in both groups to observe program activities.

If I agree to participate, what will my child and I be asked to do?

You and your child will take part in two individual one-hour sessions with a trained researcher, one in 2008 and another in 2009. During each one hour session, the researcher will ask you questions about your family, your child and your child care arrangements, and the researcher will play with your child using standard techniques to measure your child’s language, thinking, and social skills. These measures are designed to be useful for research but not for individual assessment or clinical diagnosis.

Information gathered about you and your child will be kept confidential and disclosed only with your permission or as required by law. Information about individual children in the study will be combined for reporting the study results. These results will be used to improve child care for young children throughout the state and the nation.

Will we be paid for participating in the study?

Your family will be paid for your time spent in research activities. You will receive a $50 merchandise gift card for your participation first in the spring of 2008 then another $50 in the spring of 2009.

Your participation in the study is completely voluntary. To enroll your child in the study, please read and sign the attached consent form and brief questionnaire. Please return these forms to your child care provider.

Your family will receive a $10 merchandise gift card for completing the brief questionnaire and the consent form.

Sponsored by:

U.S. Department of Education

REL West

Conducted by:

Berkeley Policy Associates

In partnership with:

University of Texas at Austin

Survey Research Management

Boulder, CO

For more information, questions, or concerns, please call:

Berkeley Policy Associates

1-800-897-0272