For parents who are returning to the workplace after staying at home with their children finding quality day care facilities is imperative. All parents want the best for their children and when it is time leave your child in the care of someone else, you want to ensure they will be safe and taken care of. In order to determine which facilities will suit your purposes many parents will ask for references and tour facilities and try it out. However, there are some states that are now rating day cares so parents can see how each one ranks.
A couple dozen states are currently ranking their licensed day care facilities. The rating system gives parents a starting point where they can choose only the best for their children. The rating system includes various criteria including:
- Child to teacher ratio
- Qualifications of teachers
- Class and age group curriculum
- Size of each class
- Condition of the environment
- Safety of the facility
For day care facilities, getting a high rating helps them and they often use it in advertising and promotions. This gets their name out to the public and keeps their rosters full. With a full facility they are receiving optimal funding and can ensure to maintain the quality of service they provide. For parents, it helps to choose from all the facilities in the area so they are sure they are getting good service.
There is some controversy over the system though as some parents are finding that the rating system is not living up to their expectations. They choose a day care based on the rating system and once enrolled they find the facility substandard. However, state officials use an unbiased system to rate. Each parent may have different expectations. The purpose of the rating system is not to guarantee satisfaction in every case but to have a starting point for parents to further question the facilities to decide if it will suit them.
One of the main advantages to the rating system is the overall improvement of day care facilities across the board in the states that have implemented the system. Because the rating is so visible each day care strives to get a better rating. The higher rated facilities want to maintain their rating and the lower rated facilities strive to improve their grade.
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