Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Rating the Regulation and Oversight of Child Care Centers...
A new nationwide survey of the fifty states shows many are "distressingly lax" in their regulation & oversight of child care centers. "We Can Do Better," published earlier this week by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, a network of more than 850 child care resource & referral centers located in every state and a most larger communities across the country, is the first of its kind ranking to be done.
Their website explains further...
The results are somewhat scary, but not very surprising. We have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the care of children. Read the introduction then check out the scorecard. Minnesota did come in tied for 10th in the nation, but before you feel too much pride you should be aware that we only scored 82 out of a possible 150 points! Good thing we're grading on a curve... but what does that say about the state of child care in our nation? It is a truly sobering situation.
Check out to see how your state ranks. There is much more information about this report at the NACCRRA website. Please look it over. Next time someone says that there is no need to improve the current conditions of child care here is one more tool to prove them wrong.
A new nationwide survey of the fifty states shows many are "distressingly lax" in their regulation & oversight of child care centers. "We Can Do Better," published earlier this week by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, a network of more than 850 child care resource & referral centers located in every state and a most larger communities across the country, is the first of its kind ranking to be done.
Their website explains further...
In 2006, the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) and the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC) released the findings of their research on the child care center regulations for each of the 50 states. This information provides a rich review of the basic standards and oversight in place for child care centers.
NACCRRA reviewed the work of NARA and NCCIC and ranked the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) based on key benchmarks to see how the states measured up. The results are shown on scorecards ranking state child care center standards, state child care oversight, and a combined score ranking states on both standards and oversight.
We know there is much that can be done to improve the quality of child care. As we reviewed the possible criteria for the ranking and put the scores together, we were shocked to see in real detail how low the bar is set for the quality of care that 12 million children under age 5 are in each week.
Simple steps undertaken by Congress and the states can better align federal and state policies with what children need to ensure a healthy and safe environment, and what parents believe and want for their children’s safety and development.
The results are somewhat scary, but not very surprising. We have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the care of children. Read the introduction then check out the scorecard. Minnesota did come in tied for 10th in the nation, but before you feel too much pride you should be aware that we only scored 82 out of a possible 150 points! Good thing we're grading on a curve... but what does that say about the state of child care in our nation? It is a truly sobering situation.
Check out to see how your state ranks. There is much more information about this report at the NACCRRA website. Please look it over. Next time someone says that there is no need to improve the current conditions of child care here is one more tool to prove them wrong.
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 6:12 PM 
