several large national studies and many smaller local studies suggest that highquality child care experiences are related albeit modestly to child outcomes even after adjusting for factors such as socioeconomic status and parental childrearing attitudes and practices howes phillips and whitebook peisnerfeinberg and burchinal zill programmes for children should be intensive yearlong and conducted by appropriately trained professionals leseman the timely transition from learningtoread to readingtolearn which for most children occurs al about age or is essential to academic success school attainment and wellbeing snow burns and griffin during the primary school years from kindergarten to grade considerable emphasis is placed on the development of reading skills