Table 5.

Policies and outcomes for child care and early childhood education

Policy	Sweden	Netherlands	Canada	United States	Cuba
Child care centres (formal or family-based) [42,46-49]
Age	1-5 years	3 mos-4 years	Birth-6 years	Birth-6 years	6 mos-5 years
Hours of operation	Working days	Working days	Working days	Working days	Working days
Parental contribution	Mainly tax funded with some income-based parent fees	44%	Vary widely	Vary widely	Many free, although some up to 100%
Government contribution	Income-based (up to 100%)	Income- based (3.5-100%)	Vary widely	Vary widely	Up to 100%
Pre-school [50,51]
Age	1-5 years	2-4 years	2-6 years	3-5 years	5 years
Hours of operation	Work days	3 x ½ day/week	2-3 hours/day	Varies	Twice weekly
Financing	Mainly tax-funded, parent fees based on income and number of children	Municipally-funded, may charge a fee to parents	Tax-funded and/or parent fees	Tax-funded and/or parent fees	Government-funded
Kindergarten (varies by state or province in Canada and the United States)
Age may start	6 years	4 years	4 or 5 years	5 years	4-6 years
Compulsory age of start	7 years	5 years	6 years	5 or 6 years	7 years (Grade 1)
School readiness [2,52-55]	No equivalent data	No equivalent data	EDI (% vulnerable) 25% Ontario, 31% British Columbia, 29.1% Manitoba (not ready 1 or more domains for all)	21 states have no statewide readiness assessments; 6 states publish school readiness data; instruments vary e.g., 17% vulnerable on MMSR* in Maryland	13% unsatisfactory development in key domains (motor skills, cognition, social-personal and personal hygiene)
CDI 2005-2010 [58]	1.85	0.93	0.74	2.86	2.27
Reading literacy achievement aged 15 (score) (2003) [45]	514	513	528	495	No equivalent data
Mathematics literacy achievement aged 15 (score) (2003) [45]	509	538	532	483	No equivalent data
Science literacy achievement aged 15 (score) (2003) [45]	506	524	519	491	No equivalent data

*MMSR is the Maryland Model for School Readiness.