What percent of programs with a Quality Rative and Improvement System (QRIS) rating serve at least one child receiving subsidies?

Answering this question can provide information on the accessibility of quality rated programs for families whose children receive a child care subsidy. To answer this question, site level information can be used to identify quality rated programs and determine the number of children receiving subsidies that they serve.

Identify CCEE Program Sites that are Operational

Site Level data elements can be used to answer this question. To limit the dataset to include only programs that are active, select programs with indicated “Active” category in the option set for the Operational Status data element.

Identify Operational CCEE Program Sites that Participate in QRIS

The data element QRIS Participation History can be used to isolate program sites (Site ID) participating in the state’s QRIS by selecting the option “Program site currently participates in the QRIS.” The quality level of a program is indicated in the QRIS Score data element.

If the state does not have a QRIS, but has another quality improvement system or initiative, use the data element Quality Improvement Participation to isolate program sites (Site ID) participating in the state’s other quality improvement initiative by selecting the option “Program site currently participates in another QI initiative”.

Calculate the Number and Percent of Subsidy Receiving Children Enrolled in QRIS Participating Program Sites

Filter the data using the Children Receiving Subsidy data element to be greater than zero to find the total number of programs that have at least one child receiving a subsidy. Divide this number by the total number of quality rated programs and multiply by 100 to answer this question. Additional Site Level data elements can be used to conduct further analyses of programs serving children receiving a subsidy by program characteristics of interest such as Early Childhood Setting.

4.6 Enter the number of CCDF children in high quality care by age grouping as of last fiscal year.

The data element QRIS Participation History can be used to isolate program sites (Site ID) participating in the state’s QRIS by selecting the option “Program site currently participates in the QRIS.” The quality level of a program is indicated in the QRIS Score data element. QRIS levels may vary across quality rating systems. For example, some QRIS systems may have four quality rating levels, and some might have five. Use the QRIS Score data element to capture only those program sites that are at the highest levels of quality however that is defined by the state (typically, the top one or two levels). For reference, the number of quality levels is detailed in the System Level data element QRIS Levels.

If the state does not have a QRIS, but has another quality improvement system or initiative, use the data element Quality Improvement Participation to isolate program sites (Site ID) participating in the state’s other quality improvement initiative by selecting the option “Program site currently participates in another QI initiative”.

Once high quality CCEE programs in the state/territory have been identified, Site ID and Child ID can be used to link a program’s quality level to the children who attend high quality rated programs. This allows for the identification of children enrolled across the previously identified high quality programs. The Child Level data element Financial Support Type specifies the type of subsidized care received by children. The field names for this data element include Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), among other types of subsidies. The option set is “Yes” or “No” for each subsidy type. The data can be coded such that any child who has a response of “Yes” to the “CCDF” field in the Financial Support Type data element is given a numeric value of “1” and all other children are given a numeric value of “0.” The Child IDs for children who receive a CCDF subsidy and attend previously identified high quality rated programs can then be counted to determine the total number of children receiving CCDF subsidies who are enrolled in high quality care.

To categorize children by age grouping (Infant, Toddler, Preschool, School-age), use the Child Birth Date data element. Children’s ages can be calculated by determining the difference in months between the child’s date of birth and any predetermined date of interest. In this case, September 30th, the end of the annual reporting period for the QPR, can be used to determine a child’s age at the end of the reporting period.  The difference in months can be divided by 12 to determine the child’s age in years. Children can then be categorized into age groupings based on their calculated age. The Child IDs for children in each age grouping who receive a CCDF subsidy and attend previously identified high quality rated programs can then be counted to determine the total number of children receiving CCDF subsidies who are enrolled in high quality care by age group.