State Childcare Rankings - How Did Your State Do?

The National Association of Childcare Resource and Referral Associations recently published their findings on how each state ranks regarding childcare standards and childcare oversight. Here's a summary of their findings. The full report can be read at http://www.naccrra.org/policy/scorecard.php


"Every week, nearly 12 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting. The children of working mothers spend an average of 36 hours each week in child care. Very simply, child care has become part of the daily routine for millions of American families. "

"The quality of child care is important because the health and safety of children are at stake and 90 percent of brain development occurs between birth and age five, which makes this time a critical period for child development. Yet, child care standards and oversight vary greatly by state. Given the importance of quality child care for children, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) reviewed state child care center policies and regulations 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."

"State Rankings: NACCRRA found that the Department of Defense child care system stands alone as a model for states. The Department of Defense child care system ranked number one on the top 10 list of states with the best child care center standards and number one on the top 10 list of states with the best oversight practices. Other than DoD, no state appears on both top 10 lists. What does that mean? It is not enough to be moving in the right direction with strong child care standards if a state’s oversight system doesn’t measure up. Without adequate oversight, there is no way to evaluate whether state standards are actually being met. "

"There is much room for improvement by the states. The top 10 overall (combining scores for standards and monitoring) have a better system in place to ensure that the standards are enforced or that the actual settings comply with the standards as envisioned. But, even the top 10 states fall short of the 150 possible points to be earned by meeting each benchmark."

Top 10 Best Overall

DOD (Department of Defense)
Illinois
New York
Maryland
Washington
Oklahoma
Michigan
North Dakota
Tennessee
Minnesota
Vermont

For a full listing of states and how they scored on the report, go to http://www.naccrra.org/policy/scorecard.php