The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families has just completed a policy brief, YoungStar in Wisconsin: Analysis of Data as of July 2013. The YoungStar child care quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) is a breakthrough policy initiative that has great promise to transform child care in Wisconsin by helping parents make good choices and by providing incentives and assistance for child care programs to improve. We believe that new initiatives of this size require careful attention to track progress, identify unintended consequences, and ensure that implementation is efficient and effective.
The brief describes the remarkable progress made in the implementation of YoungStar statewide, including information on ratings statewide and by region, efforts to help programs improve, and considerations and challenges for the future. Some key findings include:
- 65% of Wisconsin Shares children are in programs with 3- to 5- Star ratings.
- In the Milwaukee region, there are now over 1000 more children enrolled in 3-Star programs than are in 2-Star.
- A total of 4506 child care programs were rated on a five-star scale as of July 2013.
- 62% of the programs received two-star ratings.
- Group child care centers have significantly higher ratings than family child care programs.
- 90% of 5-Star group programs received their rating through accreditation.
To access an electronic version of this YoungStar report and to see the range of early care and education publications put out by WCCF, go to: https://kidsforward.org/publication/youngstar-wisconsin-analysis-data-july-2013/
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Contact: David “Daithi” Wolfe, Early Care and Education Policy Analyst, dwolfe@wccf.org, 284-0580 ext 328
