How can parents know whether their children’s early education programs are high quality? How can preschool teachers tell whether the quality of their programs meets high professional standards?

Public officials are now creating rating systems for early care and education to help parents choose care and help programs improve. Thirteen states already have rating systems; a recent report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office recommends California join them (see Rating child care in California?).

Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) is already pioneering a quality rating system. Programs in LAUP are given between three and five stars based on a three-hour site visit and staff qualifications (see Measuring Quality below). Higher-rated programs get more funds to “buy materials, (raise) staff salaries, work on professional development,” says KishaLynn Moore, LAUP recertification analyst. And LAUP coaches work with programs to help them improve. Other programs in California have or are developing rating systems, including San Francisco and LA counties, Sacramento and Fresno First 5s, and Orange County United Way.

Resource for parents

In LAUP, parents can choose their preschools. They find out about programs–and their quality ratings—by calling LAUP or visiting its website. LA mom Colleen Davis says if quality ratings had been available when she was searching for child care, “it would have helped me immensely.” Finding out her son’s preschool is a five-star program backed up what she felt, she says, but the knowledge is comforting.

Benefits for programs

LAUP “has provided the funding for better wages” in her preschool program, says Tiffani Curtis, executive director of the five-star Academy for Early Learning in Ingleside, as well as “medical benefits, more planning time, funding for conferences. Quality has been greatly enhanced” by assigning fewer children to each teacher.

Marilyn Mehl, a long-time family child care provider in Long Beach, says as a result of the rating system, her “curriculum is more formal, outside time has more science. While we’re jumping on the trampoline, we’re counting in different languages, making up songs.” And LAUP funds helped her hire a helper for the younger children.

Getting to “five stars”

LAUP provides “quality improvement” coaches who help programs improve their rating, in addition to workshops and staff development tools. Coaches helped the W.M. Keck Early Learning Center improve its score from three to five stars by changing hand-washing and sanitizing routines, says Sandra Phillips, director of early childhood programs. Now children use a paper towel to turn off the faucet, and staff clean tables with soap and water before using a sanitizer. The changes took getting used to but are more hygienic, she adds.

Curtis’s Academy also made changes—now there are children’s books everywhere. “We have a a staff member check out 38 books (from the library) each week,” says Curtis.

Assessing the assessment

“LAUP is known for its commitment to cultural and linguistic competency. Issues of color, class, and bias have not come up at all (in the rating system),” says Moore—but some providers have expressed concerns about

• One-day assessment: “The most common feedback is that the review is a one-time assessment and we hold them to those scores for the year,” says Moore—but LAUP will reevaluate a score if teachers “really feel there’s a problem,” she adds.
  
  
• Bias in the assessment tool? LAUP uses an observational tool known as ECERS (FDCRS for family child care providers), which some advocates say is culturally biased.
  
  “I think ECERS asks for materials that could be considered excessive,” says Phillips. In many cultures, “to dance with a prop is not a priority,” she adds, but programs without “dance props” could possibly get a lower ECERS score.
  
  
• Teacher qualifications: Programs only get five stars if their teachers have a BA, but teachers often face economic or cultural barriers to getting a degree. “Education does matter, but I think experience is (also) a valid indicator of staff qualifications” though it’s hard to evaluate, says Phillips.
  
  “It’s a very diverse group,” says Mehl, but “there are a lot of folks at three and four stars.”

Los Angeles Universal Preschool, 866-675-5400, www.laup.net

Measuring Quality

LAUP rates a preschool program’s quality based on:

The ECERS (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale) or FDCRS (Family Day Care Rating Scale) which evaluate:

• space and furnishings
• personal care routines
• language and reasoning
• learning activities
• interactions
• program structure

Teacher qualifications:

• Three stars: Child development teacher permits
• Four stars: AA in Early Childhood Development (with some alternatives for family child care)
• Five stars: BA in Early Childhood Education (or at least 24 ECE units plus a year teaching).

Other requirements:

• compliance with state health and safety rules
• low ratios of children to teachers (between six and 10 depending on the program)
• working conditions (centers): paid time off, professional development, and paid prep time
• curriculum (centers): daily schedule, plans, and student assessments.

Rating child care in California?

Setting up a new system

In a recent report, the Legislative Analyst’s Office recommends that California phase in a child care quality rating system, based on:

• Health and safety standards
• Basic quality of care
• Observational assessment, with funds to help programs improve.
  
  Online at www.lao.ca.gov/2007/childcare/childcare.pdf

The Child Care Law Center’s response noted the need for:

• More frequent visits to child care programs by Community Care Licensing
• A rating system that fairly represents California’s diverse teachers and providers.
  
  Online at http://www.childcarelaw.org/

AB 313 (Benoit) would require Community Care Licensing to set up a child care rating system based on how well programs met health and safety requirements—and the quality of their care. Critics say Licensing is not equipped to monitor program quality—and that inspections of child care programs are only made every five years. The bill includes no funds for quality improvement.

Current system needs improvement

A recent report from the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies ranks California near the bottom among US states on child care center standards and oversight. The report says California has low standards for staff education and training, ratios of children to adults, and curriculum. The report also says California doesn’t provide enough oversight for child care programs.

Online at www.naccrra.org/policy/scorecard.php