Evaluation

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

This report covers 18 months of the Minnesota Parent Aware QRIS pilot from July, 2008 through December, 2009, and is part of the process evaluation of the program.  The report addresses the supply of programs and the tuition rates charged by programs in the pilot areas, provides a synthesis of data from multiple sources to describe the number and percent of eligible programs that have enrolled in Parent Aware, their patterns of enrollment, and the star ratings received by those programs.

A report that details the findings of a provider survey that focused on provider perception of the most beneficial aspects of STARS and on ease of use of the various STARS resources.

An analysis of the child care subsidy system in Anoka, Becker, Brown, and Hennepin Counties, MN, to determine the impact of tiered reimbursement on the availability of and access to higher quality child care.

This Brief uses data to inform development of a statewide child care rating system, which could build on basic licensing standards to assist parents in selecting quality child care.

Provides a brief for policy-makers details a QRIS and provides an accout of how quality has improved overtime.

This report details the findings from the year 1 process evaluation of Parent Aware.  The first section provides a comparative analysis of Parent Aware with other QRIS.  Next, evaluation findings describe stakeholder perceptions about the program and its successes and challenges to date and provides an analysis of findings about early implementation of Parent Aware including program enrollment, recruitment, promotion and marketing, the rating process, on-site observations, and the provision of quality improvement resources and consultation.

Provides a summary of the Year 1 findings of the Parent Aware evaluation.

This document highlights the Partners in Quality for Early Learning initiative, the accreditation project, the quality rating system, scholarship initiatives, and a compensation initiative. Lessons learned about Kansas City's experience in attempting to build a system of quality early learning throughout the metropolitan area are discussed.

Outlines the state us quality rating and improvement systems, where more research is needed, and the framework for evaluation.