Quality Indicators and What they mean

These characteristics can help parents make better child care choices for their children because they indicate a much greater likelihood of high quality care. Quality indicators measure the conditions that generally foster a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment for children. They are:

Star rating: (Discussed above) The star rated licensing system gives programs guidelines to follow if they want to improve quality.  A programs’ star rating is on its license, which should be visibly posted.    

Staff-Child Interaction: Observe how the provider interacts with all children to insure the provider is warm and patient. 

Low staff/child ratio: A brochure in your parent packet will summarize North Carolina child care rules and laws show a table of child/staff ratios. 

Age	Teacher : Child Ratio	Maximum Group Size
0-12 months	1:5	10
12-24 months	1:6	12
2 years old	1:10	20
3 years old	1:15	25
4 years old	1:20	25
School-age	1:25	25

Small group size: Smaller groups are usually safer and calmer, so find out how many children are grouped together. 

Education of staff: It is important to know how much education your child's teacher has.  The more a teacher knows how young children grow and learn the more likely they will do a good job with your child.

Staff stability: Staff stability is important for children.  The child does best when they can stay with the same caregiver for at least a year.

Family involvement: Your provider should have an open door policy and you should be able to visit at anytime.  Great example of this would be a provider sending home notes each day stating the type of day your child had.  How often the diaper was changed – How well did your child eat – Did you child take a good nap…

Age appropriate activities: What is a typical day for the children?  Do they have a variety of activities planned for each day?

What indicators would be important to you? 

For more information, please contact us at Child Care Connections or check out our website

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