Tennessee
Child Care Evaluation and Report Card Program
Star-Quality Child Care Program
The Tennessee Star-Quality Child Care Program is an example of how a state can promote high standards for programs and guidelines for early learning for infants and toddlers. For additional information on state strategies for infants and toddlers and other state examples, see Starting Off Right: Promoting Child Development from Birth in State Early Care and Education Initiatives.
Relationship to Other State Child Care and Early Education Initiatives
Additional Opportunities and Challenges
Tennessee has a mandatory quality assessment component as part of the annual state licensing process for child care, along with a voluntary rating system. In 2001, concern about the quality of child care led the Tennessee state legislature to pass a bill mandating better staff-to-child ratios and an evaluation and report card program that included a quality assessment. All Tennessee child care centers and homes must undergo an annual quality assessment using a valid and reliable instrument as part of the licensing process.
The required assessment is based on the Environmental Rating Scales appropriate for the age group and child care setting (i.e., Infant and Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised, Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Family Day Care Environment Rating Scale, and School-Age Care Environmental Rating Scale). Assessors trained in the appropriate tool administer the assessment process, while licensing program evaluators conduct an evaluation of the other report card components. Each program receives a “report card” stating the results of its evaluation; this must be posted and accessible to parents. The providers receive a detailed report with the results from each classroom assessment, so they can identify strengths and areas for improvement.
Programs that score highly enough on the licensing components evaluation are automatically enrolled in the Tennessee Star-Quality Child Care program and receive a one-, two-, or three-star rating, indicating the level of quality—beyond state licensing standards—that they have achieved. Star-rated programs receive higher reimbursement rates for low-income children who receive child care subsidies: A one-star rating results in a 5 percent increase, a two-star rating leads to a 15 percent increase, and three-star programs receive a 20 percent increase. The star-rating system is also marketed to the public, to educate parents about quality child care. Sixty-nine percent of low-income children receiving child care subsidies are in star-rated facilities.
One-star programs and programs that do not participate in the star-rating system receive six unannounced and one announced visit each year. Two- and three-star programs receive four unannounced and one announced visit annually.
The Tennessee Star-Quality Child Care Program focuses on the specific needs of infants and toddlers in child care settings by including specific standards for children under three, using the Infant and Toddler Environmental Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R), and by training assessors in the developmentally appropriate application of ITERS-R measures. The state provides Web-based guidance to infant and toddler providers on how to improve the quality of care (see www.tnstarquality.org). In addition, the Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) network, supported by a state grant, includes eight infant/toddler specialists, each certified by the Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) to provide technical assistance, research-based training, and support to infant-toddler providers. The state, through a grant to Tennessee State University, supports Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance (TECTA). TECTA contracts with local colleges and universities to provide free 30-hour infant and toddler orientations for caregivers. Infant and toddler caregivers are encouraged to enroll in classes, provided through local colleges and universities, leading to a Child Development Associate (CDA) for infant and toddler caregivers. Tuition for these classes is subsidized, and mentoring services are provided by TECTA staff. The Department of Human Services created a director-level position in its state office to head Tennessee’s infant/toddler initiatives, to ensure the needs of this population are considered within all state objectives, and to champion these needs.
Smart Start’s goal is to support children so that they arrive at elementary school healthy and prepared for success. The North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC) oversees local programs to ensure that programs, services, and funds reach the children and families of North Carolina. Every local partnership’s annual plan is reviewed by NCPC staff and must be designed to meet specific performance goals. NCPC is ultimately responsible to the Legislative Joint Committee on Governmental Operations of the North Carolina General Assembly. Local partnerships are subject to auditing by the Office of the State Auditor, and there is a uniform accounting system and independent payroll service for all partnerships. Local partnership performance is also measured through the Performance-Based Incentive System (PBIS). PBIS is an annual performance evaluation system designed to ensure an objective evaluation of Smart Start outcomes and to enable the NCPC to report statewide results. All local partnerships must be evaluated on the same statewide criteria, and there are statewide minimum standards to which each partnership must be held accountable. For each criterion, data sources must be measurable and available for every county.
The Frank Porter Graham (FPG) multidisciplinary research team developed a short- and long-term ongoing evaluation plan to assess results across the widely varying partnerships. FPG provided annual reports to the legislature regarding Smart Start’s overall program and activity outcomes. Among its many positive studies was one released in 2003, which stated that children who attend Smart Start-supported child care centers have better language and math skills than children in centers not participating in Smart Start.
NCPC staff also helped the state Department of Public Instruction create the Foundations for Early Learning Success. These early learning guidelines, released in 2005, demonstrate the skills children should develop from ages three to five; and they are aligned with the state’s K-12 guidelines. Infant and toddler learning guidelines, which will be aligned to the preschool guidelines, are nearly completed.
The majority of funding comes from the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). There is no additional state funding.
Relationship to Other State Child Care and Early Education Initiatives
The Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS) houses the division of Child Care Planning and Development, which manages the assessment and star-rating system, child care subsidies, and the contract with the Child Care Resource and Referral network. DHS includes child care licensing in a separate division. Head Start programs participate in the assessment process and as partners in collaborative efforts. A new expansion of pre-kindergarten for four-year-olds is administered separately by the Department of Education and funded by lottery money.
Tennessee has several mechanisms for joint policy setting, including:
· a Star Quality Council, which was mandated by the initial law. The council advises on any changes to the evaluation and report card components,
· a collaborative group tasked with determining what is needed to promote school readiness;
· the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet,
· multiple agencies that participate in the state’s Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) planning grant, and
· inclusion of the state child care administrator on the pre-kindergarten task force.
Additional Opportunities and Challenges
The Tennessee Star-Quality Child Care Council is considering raising standards for achieving stars, since more than half of child care programs are now star-rated. As the program grows, there is a need for targeted technical assistance for infant and toddler programs. The infant/toddler specialist program presents new opportunities to improve the technical assistance available. A growing database of the results of the assessments will provide detailed information on regions where technical assistance is most needed.
With the expansion of pre-kindergarten in Tennessee, the program director will need to continue to bring the needs of infants and toddlers to the table. The state Department of Human Services is sponsoring a statewide conference focused on infant and toddler issues. Since pre-kindergarten expansion efforts have just begun in Tennessee (there are about 190 classrooms statewide), it is still unclear what impact this will have on child care and on infants and toddlers.
· Require all child care programs in the state to be assessed.
· Have state-funded infant/toddler specialists work with providers serving children under age three.
· Use a data source to track scores from assessments at least quarterly, in order to identify trends and areas where additional training, technical assistance, and resources are needed.
· Create a state director of infant and toddler services to ensure the needs of this population are considered within all state objectives and to champion these needs.
Program website: www.tnstarquality.org
· Fact Sheet on the Star-Quality Child Care Program
· Information for providers on how to improve quality in infant and toddler care settings
· Sample Report Card for Child Care Centers
· Sample Report Card for Family and Group Homes
Interview with Judy Smith, Director of the Child Care Planning and Development Program, and Gail Crawford, Director of Infant/Toddler Initiatives, on January 3, 2006 and updated on March 15, 2007
For information on other state initiatives for infants and toddlers, visit www.clasp.org/publications/startingoffright.htm