Introduction
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(PDF)
The Role of Licensing in Early Care and Education (TRLECE) project conducted an exploratory study with three states to examine whether child care and early education (CCEE) licensing violations were related to program quality, as measured by state Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). Understanding how QRIS ratings are linked to licensing violations may help licensing and QRIS staff better support licensed CCEE programs.
The full report (PDF) describes the approach to data analysis, details the study’s results, and offers considerations for future research and state/territory-researcher partnerships. The research summary (PDF) highlights key results and considerations from the full report.
Research Questions
- Do programs with higher QRIS ratings tend to have fewer licensing violations than those with lower ratings?
- Are programs with higher ratings less likely to have high-risk violations than those with lower ratings?
Purpose
CCEE licensing plays a critical role in every state and territory because it establishes regulations for CCEE programs to legally operate and monitors programs to ensure they meet those regulations. Licensing may also be a requirement for providers to participate in other initiatives, such as Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS).
This study had three purposes:
- Examine the relationship between QRIS ratings and licensing violations in licensed centers and family child care (FCC) homes.
- Explore whether findings would be similar across three states.
- Serve as an example of how researchers and states/territories could partner to answer questions using licensing and QRIS data.
Key Findings and Highlights
- In two of three states, CCEE centers with higher QRIS ratings tended to have fewer violations than those with lower QRIS ratings.
- In one of three states, FCC homes with higher QRIS ratings tended to have fewer violations than those with lower QRIS ratings.
- Researchers found a similar pattern when they looked only at high-risk violations.
- More research is needed to better understand the relationships between licensing and quality.
Methods
Our exploration of the relationship between QRIS ratings and licensing violations was part of a larger project in which we partnered with state licensing agencies and analyzed state administrative data to better understand relationships between licensing violations and CCEE program characteristics. For this study, researchers included three of the six states that took part in the larger study. Because of the differences in CCEE licensing regulations and QRIS ratings across states, researchers conducted parallel analyses in each of the three states instead of combining data across states into one single data set. The participating states provided CCEE licensing and QRIS rating administrative data to the analysis team. Researchers included data from routine in-person licensing inspections conducted in licensed child care centers and FCC homes during which all licensing regulations were monitored.
Citation
Lin, Y.-C., Early, D.M., Fuller, J., Gebhart, T., Miranda, B., & Maxwell, K. (2024). Licensing violations and program quality in child care and early education. OPRE Report #2024-163. Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Early, D.M., Maxwell, K., Johnson, N., Lin, Y.-C., Miranda, B., Fuller, J., & Gebhart, T. (2024). Licensing Violations and Program Quality in Child Care and Early Education: Research Summary. OPRE Report #2024-168. Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- Administrative data:
- “Information programs collect about individual children, families, and staff to deliver program services and meet program, funding, or legal requirements. Generally, programs collect administrative data to determine child/family eligibility for services, monitor staff workload, document services provided, or examine progress children are making” (King et al., 2016, p.2).
- Child care and early education:
- Caregiving and educational services for children from birth to age 13. CCEE includes center- and home-based settings for infants, toddlers, preschool- and school-aged children. CCEE refers to services for a larger age group than early care and education (ECE), which consists of services provided only for young children (birth to age 5 who are not yet in kindergarten). ECE programs are included within the definition of CCEE.
- Child care and early education center:
- “Child care services for fewer than 24 hours per day per child in a nonresidential setting, unless care in excess of 24 hours is due to the nature of the parent(s)’ work” (National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, 2015a, p. 3).
- Family child care:
- “Child care provided for one or more unrelated children in a provider's home setting.” (Child Care & Early Education Research Connections, n.d. -a). “Family child care” can be used to describe a provider (i.e., person) or a setting (i.e., home).
- High-risk violations:
- Some licensing agencies designate a subset of their regulations as high-risk. These regulations are considered critical to children’s health and safety, and, if violated, pose a greater risk of harm to children. Repeated violations may also be considered high-risk by some licensing agencies.
- Inspection:
- A visit to assess if a CCEE provider is meeting licensing regulations.
- Licensing regulations:
- “Requirements that providers must meet to legally operate child care services in a state or locality, including registration requirements established under state, local, or Tribal law” (Child Care & Early Education Research Connections, n.d. -a). (Child Care & Early Education Research Connections uses this definition for “licensing or regulatory requirements.”)
- Quality Rating and Improvement System:
- “A system typically administered by a state or local jurisdiction used to assess, improve, and communicate the quality of CCEE settings. Most incorporate some variation of the following elements: quality standards; a system for rating/measuring and monitoring program quality; resources to improve quality, such as grants for classroom materials and staff scholarships; and outreach services to educate and communicate … about choosing high quality [CCEE]. QRIS may also create a range of financial incentives to motivate programs to achieve higher levels of quality” (Child Care & Early Education Research Connections, n.d. -a).
- Violation:
- Failure to comply with a licensing regulation.