Care About Child Care
* * * UPDATE * * * The QRIS will now be known as Care About Child Care
Utah's Office of Child Care in partnership with the Bureau of Child Care Licensing and many other community child care partners is in the midst of developing Utah's QRIS.
What is QRIS ? Nationally speaking, QRIS stands for Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. According to the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC),
"A QRIS is a systemic approach to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early and school age care and education programs. Similar to rating systems for restaurants and hotels, QRIS award quality ratings to early and school age care and education programs that meet a set of defined program standards. By participating in their State’s QRIS, early and school age care providers embark on a path of continuous quality improvement. Even providers that have met the standards of the lowest QRIS levels have achieved a level of quality that is beyond the minimum requirements to operate."
Utah's QRIS is being referred to as a, Quality Recognition and Information System. One of the essential components of Utah's QRIS will be the creation of child care provider profile pages. These profile pages will be on the internet and accessed through the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) database. Parents and other users of QRIS will be able to view these profile pages with provider information such as care type, ages accepted, vacancies/capacity, hours of operation, schools served, schedule, etc.
Utah's QRIS will also display the educational achievements of staff and provide a link to the provider's child care licensing history. Providers will be given the opportunity to upload their own information such as photos of their program and a brief explanation of their child care facility. The QRIS provider profile page will also provide a link to the provider's own website if they happen to have one.
Child care providers will also be given the opportunity to earn and display icons that represent benchmarks of quality that the provider has demonstrated. For example, Utah's QRIS will have Indoor and Outdoor Environment quality indicators. Once a provider has applied for QRIS and submitted the documentation necessary to verify the criteria, icons will be displayed on the provider's profile page to indicate that the provider has gone above and beyond licensing standards to offer a high quality environment for children in their care. Examples of other quality indicators include:
Health and Safety
Administration
Indoor Environment
Outdoor Environment
Family Involvement
Staff Qualifications
Accreditation
The criteria required to achieve these indicators are being compiled right now. Please see their Facebook page at Utah QRIS to gather more information and to give us your feedback.
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CCR&R Eastern • USU Eastern • 451 East 400 North • Price, UT 84501 • 888-637-4786 or 435-613-5619