Quick Facts on School–Age Care: Trends in Quality Improvement
Licensing regulations provide a baseline of health and safety requirements that child care providers must meet in order to operate in a given state. Currently, 14 states have separate licensing regulations for school-age programs, while nearly all (46) states and the District of Columbia have requirements for school-age care within their licensing requirements for child care centers. States with separate school-age licensing regulations are: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington.1 For more information, see: Promoting Quality in Afterschool Programs through State Child Care Regulations, available online at: http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/afterschool/childcareregs.pdf
Professional development systems use a clearly articulated framework to guide a continuum of training and ongoing supports to child care and school-age care providers.2 The following 10 states and Washington D.C. report in their Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) state plans that they have professional development systems for school-age care providers: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and South Dakota.3 For more information, see: Building Professional Development Systems for the Afterschool Field, available online at:http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/afterschool/pd_systems.pdf
Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) provide a systemic approach to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early and school-age care programs. The following nine states have made key school-age care adaptations to their rating systems: Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.4 For more information, see: Using Quality Rating Systems to Promote Quality in Afterschool Programs, available online at: http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/afterschool/qrs_afterschool.pdf
Credentials are certifications that recognize when an individual has fulfilled a set number of relevant professional trainings. While the early care field has an established national credential for professionals (the Child Development Associate (CDA)), at least 11 states5 have developed a professional credential for school-age and youth care providers. These states are: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin. For more information, see materials from Afterschool Investments’ Professional Development Audio Conference: Creating a Credential for a School-Age Workforce, available online at: http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/afterschool/tactivities.html
1 National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC) and the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA). “The 2007 Child Care Licensing Study”. NCCIC and NARA, http://naralicensing.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=160 Back
2 NCCIC. “State Professional Development System Credentials for Individuals.” NCCIC, http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/poptopics/pd-credentials.html Back
3 Afterschool Investments review of state Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plans for the State and Territories, September 2008. Back
4 Research conducted by the Afterschool Investments Project, May 2009. Back
5 NCCIC. State Professional Development System Credentials for Individuals. NCCIC, http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/poptopics/pd-credentials.html. Also see:
Program Quality, Michigan Afterschool Partnership, http://miafterschool.org/program-quality/certificate-credentials/; The Youth Development Credential, Missouri School Age Community Coalition, http://mosac2.org/tra/index.htm; and Wisconsin, Early Childhood Career Guide, http://collaboratingpartners.com/career_g/Licensure.html. Back
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