Abstract
Abstract The developmental and educational importance of high quality early care and education is well documented. The value of access to high quality care combined with the increasing demand for care has made access to high quality child care a central focus of U.S. public policy. State level licensure and national accreditation are the most prevalent strategies for promoting and assuring higher levels of care. More recently, Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) have emerged as mechanisms for motivating child care professionals to provide higher quality care. QRIS systems are in their infancy, but are gaining popularity in several states. The future of these ratings systems will be determined by their predictive validity in improving observed levels of care, and ultimately in improved child outcomes. Strategically planned and rigorously designed research is needed to validate the use of these potentially effective rating systems.
Highlights
The need to supply substitute care for parents who are working or otherwise unable to provide the care themselves has meant that young children in the United States are increasingly exposed to non-familial care and education prior to reaching kindergarten, the traditional start of formal schooling (National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, 2007)
The importance of providing high quality nonfamilial care and education to young children has been clearly articulated in research and is being addressed in emerging policy
Socioeconomically disadvantaged children need the stimulation afforded by such care and education in order to learn and develop on par with their more economically advantaged peers
Summary
There has been a growing awareness that experiences in the early years sets a sound foundation for future development as the developmental, educational, and economic importance of the early years (infancy through preschool) has become increasingly clear over the past three decades. Rating systems are developed using a set of quality indicators that range from meeting basic requirements (e.g., licensure requirements) and progress through multiple levels of quality toward the highest professional standards (often national accreditation) They are designed to improve child-care quality by defining quality standards, educating consumers and providers on program quality, and providing incentives and support for quality improvement (Zellman, Perlman, Le, & Setodji, 2008, p.25). In a typical star system, one star would indicate that a program meets acceptable standards, two stars would indicate even higher quality, and three stars would indicate the highest level quality of care Referring to these systems as Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) is gaining popularity among professionals and state policy makers who recognize that one of the most important benefits of rating systems is the incentive that they offer child care providers to improve their quality of early care and education. The report identified the following critical elements of a well functioning QRIS
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