Day care center ratings go public July 1

Number rated: 200 anticipated by July 1

Potential ratings: 1 star, 2 star and 3 star

Children enrolled in these centers: 90,683

Counties served: 130

Source: Bright From the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning

WHAT RATINGS MEAN

The state has a complicated process for evaluating all aspects of a child care center’s operations. Rated centers get one-time rewards at each level. Here’s a broad look at the expectations.

Source: Bright From the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning

Georgia goes public July 1 with its long-awaited, voluntary three-star child care rating system and a plan to offer financial incentives to providers — and even some parents — to use it.

About 1,233 of the state's 6,000 licensed child care centers are participating, though only 200 will officially be rated with one, two or three stars.

The other 1,000-plus will be working to demonstrate that they go above and beyond the minimum health and safety requirements for licensed centers and are star-worthy, a time-consuming process that’s likely to take some of them to year’s end.

"We do think we have to start somewhere," said Bobby Cagle, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, the agency that oversees child care centers. "What we are intending to say (in July) is this is what the system is all about. Ask your provider if they are participating."

More center owners and family day care providers are expected to join the new Quality Rating System, once the ratings go on display at centers and at DECAL’s website and an advertising campaign begins that encourages parents to put their children in star-rated child care centers, Cagle said.

Among the attraction of star-rated centers: Each class has a daily lesson plan, ensuring greater focus on academics; children have 30-plus minutes of daily physical activity; information on staff-to-teacher ratios is readily available to parents; and staff is committed to serving more fresh fruits and vegetables, he said.

Center owners and mom-and-pop child care operators, many of whom were hit hard by the recession, have their own incentive for participating: money.

The state is buying supplies for rated centers and giving some money for staff bonuses and lower staff-to-student ratios. As of July 1, star-rated centers — and no others — also will receive an increase in the state/federal reimbursements they receive for caring for children from lower-income families, something that hasn’t happened in years, Cagle said.

The higher the center’s rating, the larger the reimbursement the center could receive for each qualifying child, he said.

Additionally, low-income parents could see their copayments reduced if their child attends a star-rated center. And the more stars the center has, the lower the copay may be, Cagle said.

“For the system to work the way we really want it to work, the whole program has to be tied to these reimbursements,” said Mindy Binderman, executive director of the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students.

Some details on the incentives are still being finalized.

Georgia spent six years developing a rating system that was basically put on the shelf until 2011, when Cagle’s office decided to compete for a $70 million, federal early-learning grant. The grant competition gave an advantage to the many states that already had a child care rating system in place, and Georgia lost out.

Cagle has since raised private cash and in-kind contributions of about $5 million to support the rating system’s launch. That included the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation and the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta combined giving $2.4 million. He estimates that the rating system will require about $68 million over the next four years, a combination of more private, state and federal dollars.

The initial goal is at least one licensed, quality-rated center in each county, Cagle said. To date, at least one center in 130 of the state’s 159 counties has signed up to be part of the program.

Quality-rated centers, in addition to having lesson plans, will work on other practices aimed at ensuring children’s academic success, such as having parent and family engagement early on, Cagle said.

Cindee George, owner of Discovery Point Child Development Center, a nationally accredited child care center in Woodstock, went through the state’s new rating process and recommends others do the same.

Not only is the state providing participating centers with excellent help through the rating process, it is also offering a huge incentive package, George said.

“I don’t remember ever receiving bonuses and incentives on this magnitude in all my 18 years for wanting to improve my program,” she said.

Workers from the state look at all aspects of a child care facility’s operation, and, in the case of George’s center, recommended a more effective method for hand-washing, she said.

The center, which received a two-star rating, has gotten 41 cartons of toys and supplies from the state for participating, George said.

“I have never seen my teachers so excited,” she said. “Every single level is rewarded in a very, very big way.”

George has already applied for her center to be re-evaluated in hopes of achieving the top, three-star rating for her center, which takes children from 6 weeks old to school age.

“We are committed to improve our program to achieve and maintain that 3,” she said.

The nationally accredited Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta’s Sunshine School in Marietta was one of the first child care centers to join the state rating system and earn three stars.

“We were a quality program and didn’t have that far to go,” said Raye Lynn Banks, the school’s director. “But it gave us another stamp of approval. It says you’re doing what’s right for children.”

The Sunshine School, which has been in east Cobb since 1983, had technical assistance from the state throughout the rating process, Banks said. It took about six months, but says to parents “we are committed to ensuring the highest quality,” Banks said.

» To read more about the Quality Care Rating system and to see the names and locations of rated centers after July 1, go to: http://decal.ga.gov/QualityInitiatives/QualityRated.aspx.