When Denver-area residents first search for child care, the list of dozens of possible locations — each with its own strengths and weaknesses — can appear daunting.
Most families don’t have the time to deeply research child care programs, because they just need to find a place they can afford that is nearby and accepting new children, said Maureen Reid, chief program officer at Denver’s Early Childhood Council.
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The council mostly works with providers on quality improvement, but does have some resources to help parents find care. Its goal is to make sure that every child care option offers safe, high-quality care, taking the responsibility of vetting a provider off families’ plates, Reid said.
State licensing partially does that, because every provider must follow safety regulations — though informal providers also have a role in filling gaps and need more resources, she said.
“If any center is licensed, that’s a testament to (its) health and safety,” Reid said.
That said, if parents do have multiple options, Colorado has several tools to help them find the best one, Reid said. Families can call 211 or an agency such as the Early Childhood Council for guidance, or they can look up and compare programs online.
Colorado Shines, run by the state’s Department of Early Childhood, allows parents to filter child care programs by:
- Age of children served
- Languages spoken
- Whether they participate in Head Start
- Type of setting, such as a center or home-based program
- Distance from a particular location
- Whether they accept kids covered by the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, which pays part of the cost of care for low-income families
- Quality rating, ranging from one to five
Programs in levels one or two — the lowest — are licensed, meaning they have to comply with state regulations, but may not have gone through the process of proving they meet quality standards.
Those at level three or higher are graded based on:
- How much education staff have, and how much ongoing professional development they receive
- How well the program engages and communicates with families
- Whether management uses sound business practices and maintains a respectful work environment
- Whether the program uses an evidence-based curriculum
- Staff-to-child ratios
- If the program regularly assesses children’s development
- If each classroom performs well on a standardized observation
All programs with a rating are in “good standing” with the state, though that doesn’t necessarily mean they have completely clean records. A program with a level-five rating could be on probation for safety violations and still keep that rating, if the state believes it is working to fix its problems.
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The state’s website does allow parents to look up whether a provider has faced any penalties or significant complaints recently, and to review the results of inspections.
Most programs don’t have major problems, regardless of their rating.
Of nine programs with a level-five rating within five miles of the Colorado Capitol, only one had a founded complaint in the last three years, and none had a recent child abuse investigation.
Most of the lowest-ranked programs had similarly clean records, though seven out of 54 programs at level one within that radius had a recent founded complaint or investigation.
The ratings can be a good place to start if parents want to narrow down their options, but some programs rank lower not because they do a poor job, but because they take a different approach, Reid said.
For example, Montessori programs often use different materials than other types of classrooms, so a program may not rank highly, even if it does a good job within that framework, she said. (Montessori programs are less structured than some types of early childhood education and let children direct their own learning.)
“There are things about a level-five center that may not be for everyone,” she said.
Tools and ratings aren’t a substitute for visiting a program, Reid said. The Denver Early Childhood Council, Colorado Shines and ChildCare.gov offer checklists for parents to assess safety and how child-centered a provider is.
Families also need to consider the intangible factor of whether they feel at home and can see themselves and their children as part of a particular community, Reid said.
“It really is extremely personal,” she said. “You can look at all these things on paper… and when you visit, that will tip the scale for a lot of people.”
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