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QRS Quality Standards
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 quality of care. Additional information about QRS is available on NCCIC’s Web site at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/topics/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.
QRS standards are used to assign ratings to programs that participate in QRS, providing parents and the public with information about each program’s quality. States typically use licensing standards as the starting point, or base, of the system, on which higher levels of quality standards are built. Every QRS contains two or more levels of standards beyond licensing, with incremental progressions to the highest level of quality as defined by the State. Systems vary in the number of levels and number of standards identified in each level. The types of standards used by QRS to assign ratings are based on research about the characteristics of programs that produce positive child outcomes.
Categories of standards in statewide QRS include the following:
- Administrative policies and procedures;
- Children with special needs;
- Health and safety;
- Learning environment/curriculum;
- Licensing status/compliance;
- Parent/family involvement;
- Personnel/staffing;
- Professional development/qualifications/training;
- Program evaluation;
- Ratios/group size; and
- Staff compensation.
QRS Quality Standards
The following table includes links to each State’s QRS standards used to assign quality ratings. NCCIC does not endorse any organization, publication, or resource.
Updated September 2008
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NCCIC is a service of the Child Care Bureau (CCB), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Administration for Children and Families(ACF), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services