We have access to more consumer information than ever these days. You probably wouldn’t buy a stroller or hire a landscaper without Googling for customer feedback first. So why should childcare choices be any different?
That was the premise behind an element of a larger childcare bill passed by the State Legislature last spring. The Northstar Quality Improvement and Rating System (QRS) was to be the first step toward helping parents find childcare based on specific quality indicators laid out by a task force of childcare providers, educators, and researchers. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, however, vetoed the $1 million startup funding
Pawlenty claimed that the QRS focused more on input rather than output, meaning the ratings emphasized what facilities offered children rather than how children benefited. “If the objective for quality childcare is to ensure that young children are ready for kindergarten, then a childcare rating system should be aligned with the K-12 accountability system,” Pawlenty said in a statement.
Zoe Nicholie, director of public policy for Ready 4 K, which, along with the Greater Minneapolis Day Care Association, convened the initial advisory committee to create the system, can’t find enough words to describe her reaction to the veto. “I was very surprised and kind of shocked and disappointed and upset,” she said. “When we had bipartisan support in Legislature, it was just puzzling to get a veto, and the reasons the governor gave were even more puzzling because it seemed like he didn’t receive good information from his advisors about what the QRS was about.”
Specifically, Nicholie says that despite the governor’s misgivings, the Northstar QRS addresses both input (the quality of the facilities and teacher training, for example) and output (how much kids are learning) in childcare. “The QRS does measure outputs; it requires facilities to show how they measure children’s assessments and progress in things like early literacy and social skills,” she says. “And it’s important to make the point that there is complete body of research nationally that shows better inputs produce better outputs.”
Issues with the QRS run deeper than input vs. output, however. With parents in the state spending roughly $1.2 billion per year on childcare alone, Karen Carlson, director of Early Learning Services in the Minnesota Department of Education, says they need to have more say in creating the rating system. “The Northstar QRS is based on what professionals in early education say is quality, and we’d like parents to have more of a say so they can choose what indicators are most important to them – that makes more sense to the governor than having the field itself set all the criteria,” Carlson says. “There needs to be parental feedback.”
Despite his veto, the governor is moving ahead with plans to create a rating system for childcare facilities, something 20 other states already have in place. “When the governor vetoed the QRS, he didn’t say, ‘it’s over, it’s dead.’ Parts of the QRS weren’t what we’re looking for, but we’re still exploring. The governor has charged both the Department of Education and the Department of Human Services to look into other options to the problems and come up with solutions,” says Stephanie Connolly, communications and government relations assistant to the commissioner of education.
While government and nonprofit organizations hammer out a system that appeals to both sides, one company in the private sector is picking up the slack by offering parents a rating system that, though not as comprehensive, creates a starting point for sorting out the childcare conundrum.
Angie’s List, a web site where consumers can post reviews of service providers in more than 250 categories is adding childcare providers to its coverage. The company, which started as place for homeowners to rate carpet cleaners and contractors, took notice of increasing subscriber requests for childcare ratings.
“If it’s important who your plumber is, then it’s terribly important who’s watching your children,” says Amy Sundem, Twin Cities manager of Angie’s List. “We got a lot of feedback and realized this is a much-needed service.” A typical Angie’s List rating form offers seven categories, ranging from punctuality to professionalism, which can be ranked on an A-F scale, as well as an open-ended comment area where members can detail their experiences. Angie’s List is also consulting professionals to create a more specialized set of criteria members can use to rate childcare providers.
“We want to give parents a place to start when it comes time to find a good childcare provider, and typically, people are doing that now by word of mouth. We’re going to be in the same vein as that – [a place] where people share their opinions and ideas so that other people can make educated decisions,” says Sundem.
Most professionals seem skeptical of such a system and cite its simplicity and lack of in-depth criteria. “If it’s too simplistic, it’s not going to help. Ratings based on whether a facility’s hours match, whether it’s convenient, and basic criteria like that leave out important factors,” says Carlson, of the Department of Education. “It needs to be more involved than that when we’re talking about little kids.”
Monica Wright is Minnesota Parent’s staff writer and calendar editor.
