States and Territories are involved in a variety of activities to improve the availability and quality of early and school-age care programs. Most often these activities are supported by quality set-aside funds from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). A growing number of States use CCDF funds to create quality rating systems (QRS). A QRS is a systemic approach to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early and school-age care programs. Similar to rating systems for restaurants and hotels, QRS award quality ratings to early and school-age care programs that meet a set of defined program standards. These systems, which may also be called quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS), provide an opportunity for States to increase the quality of care for children, increase parents’ understanding and demand for higher quality care, and increase professional development of child care providers. A QRS can also be a strategy for aligning components of the early and school-age care system for increased accountability in improving care. Additional information about QRS is available on NCCIC’s Web site at http://nccic.acf.hhs.govtopics/topic/index.cfm?topicId=44.
All QRS are composed of five common elements: (1) standards, (2) accountability measures, (3) program and practitioner outreach and support, (4) financing incentives, and (5) parent/consumer education efforts. Currently, 17 States (Colorado, District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Vermont) have a statewide QRS.
The following are the stated goals and/or objectives of a sample of statewide QRS. This does not include goals and/or objectives for all statewide QRS. NCCIC does not endorse any organization, publication, or resource.
Updated September 2008