Why is quality child care important?
Across Texas, parents and families enroll their children into child care programs, including center-based and home-based programs. Numerous research studies have shown that at-risk children who attend higher quality child care programs are more prepared for school entry than children who do not attend quality child care programs.
As a child care program, you may ask “what does high-quality mean or look like” or “does my program meet high-quality standards”? See What does quality child care look like? for more information and resources.
How can a child care facility become accredited?
There are different accreditation routes a child care program can take dependent on financial, personal and professional means, but the most common is either through a state accreditation program or a national accreditation program.
TEXAS
The Texas Rising Star program is a quality rating and improvement system for child care programs participating in the Texas Workforce Commission’s (TWC) Child Care Services program. Texas Rising Star certification is available to licensed centers and licensed and registered child care home facilities who meet the certification criteria. The Texas Rising Star program offers three levels of certification (Two-Star, Three-Star and Four-Star) to encourage child care and early learning programs to attain progressively higher certification requirements leading to a higher star level.
A Texas Rising Star program is a child care provider that has an agreement to serve TWC-Child Care Services’ children and that meets requirements that exceed the State’s Child Care Regulation (CCR) Minimum Standards.
Those child care programs that achieve Texas Rising Star certification, offering quality care that exceeds the State’s CCR Minimum Standards for director and staff qualifications, teacher-child interactions, program administration, indoor/outdoor learning environments, and family involvement and education, are in a better position to contribute to the early development of children. As child care programs progress through the levels of Texas Rising Star certification, they contribute progressively more to the development of the children they serve on a daily basis.
NATIONAL
There are several national professional organizations which promote high quality standards in early childhood education and are recognized by Texas Rising Star:
National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA)
National Accreditation Commission for Early Child Care and Education (NAC)
National Association of Family Child Care Accreditation (NAFCC)
Council of Accreditation (COA)
Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI)
Early Head Start and/or Head Start Programs regulated by CCR (providing wrap-around care)
American Montessori Society (AMS)