Developing a Child Care Quality Rating System: Wisconsin’s Approach

This paper describes the approach used by the Wisconsin Child Care Research Partnership (WCCRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Extension to help a State Task Force produce its initial recommendations for development of a child care quality rating system tied to tiered reimbursement. WCCRP explored a range of possibilities for child care quality rating systems, produced four alternative models, and developed the criteria by which each option might be measured. The proposal was called Quality Counts for Kids. It has two primary goals: (1) to improve the quality of child care in Wisconsin, particularly for children from low-income families; and (2) to give parents the information they need to make more informed child care choices. The name was changed to “Quality Care for Quality Kids” in the January 2005 State of the State Address.