Result 3. All children are curious learners progressing towards their full potential

Indicator 3.2. % of licensed child care capacity with an accreditation

Current Value

39.9%

2024

Definition

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About the Data

This indicator includes all non-military childcare centers licensed by the Child Care Licensing (CCL) division of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). To be accredited, a childcare center must hold one or more accreditations recognized by the Texas Workforce Commission. The recognized Texas-specific (1) and national (2-8) accrediting bodies are: 1) Texas Rising Star (WSA), 2) National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), 3) National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA), 4) National Accreditation Commission for Early Care and Education Program, 5) Association of Christian Schools International, 6) National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), 7) Council of Accreditation (formerly the National After School Association), and 8) AdvancED Quality Early Learning Schools (QELS). Included centers must serve children in the infant and/or toddler age group. Excludes (Early) Head Start Centers and Public Pre-K programs.

All quantitative data and narrative related to the data on this page was prepared by CI NOW for ReadyKidSA.

Why Is This Important?

Participation in high-quality early childhood care and education programs can have positive effects on children’s cognitive, language, and social development, particularly among children at risk for poor outcomes. Quality is an important element of programs that have had strong impacts. High-quality programs do not just meet the basic needs of children, but also provide opportunities for meaningful learning activities and language development, and work to foster close, caring relationships between children and their teachers/caregivers. (Child Trends Databank, 2016)

Race/Ethnicity

OVERALL TREND: Bexar County*, 2017-2024

	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
# of Licensed Facilities	448	445	449	462	448	446	457	465
Licensed capacity	52,261	52,512	52,291	53,842	53,376	54,246	55,712	56,627
# of Quality Facilities	71	84	84	105	133	128	136	144
Quality Capacity	11,717	13,957	13,649	17,434	20,856	20,456	21,394	22,597
% of Facilities considered Quality	15.8%	18.9%	18.7%	22.7%	29.7%	28.7%	29.8%	31.0%
% of Capacity considered Quality	22.4%	26.6%	26.1%	32.4%	39.1%	37.7%	38.4%	39.9%

Note: All childcare facilities downloaded from HHSC and filtered by the following criteria: licensed; infant and toddler; exclude Early/Head Start; and accredited by any certification including Texas Rising Star and National Accreditation.

Geographic Distribution

Black Population Zips:

Hispanic Population Zips:

White Population Zips:

Story Behind the Curve

What factors are pushing up on the data?

More parents educated about quality and the manpower/ money to make it happen
Focus on 0-5 children
Mentors for TX Rising Star
Incentives
- Subsidy reimbursement rates higher than WSA max rates
  - TRS & TSR (PK children)
  - 2Star – 5%, 3Star 7%, 4 Star 9% -
- Curriculum
- Professional development
Parental awareness/education

What factors are pushing down on the data?

Loss of funding (CCS)
# of children able to be served decreases when quality increases
- (ratio) (accreditation requirements)
- capacity issue
Cost of quality and affordability for both provider and family
Eligibility requirements for parents
Educational requirements for teachers
Committed teachers/ caregivers
Turnover is high due to low pay
Criteria is huge, even for minium standards
Almost impossible to achieve without being under the umbrella of a support organization
Centers are often in survival mode - need to shift to quality

KLRN
Region 20
San Antonio AEYC/National AEYC
School districts
St. Paul Lutheran
TEA
TX Agri-life extension
United Way
Workforce Solutions Alamo
WSA-QIA
YMCA
YWCA

What Works

Evidence-Based Practices

Establishing quality rating
Mentoring centers match system
Assessment tools CLASS, Bas, PAS,TRS, TSR
Subsidy program – stabilized revenue for CC facilities 12 month eligibility for subsidy families
CCD BG Act of 2014

Promising Practices

Accreditation Facilitation Project
# incentives for quality
State child care department that impacts policy & standards
Angels substitute program
- allows staff to improve education or spend time with a mentor
Parent fee discount for choosing an accredited center (Subsidy)_
Early Head Start child care partnership
Childcare fellowship program – scholarship in ECE in return for 2 yea retention commitment to facility
TEACH has similar program

No Cost Low Cost

New centers get info from the start
Director collaboration meetings

Off the Wall

MM standard to be a CC provider
Minimum standards increasing
Teacher pay increasing
CDA Certificate programs in high school
Expand fellowship and retention program for more than 2 years
- Make “fellows” trainers – Train the Trainer

Solutions and Strategies

System Change

Strengthen and facilitate partnerships between local Education Agencies, early learning programs, and other organizations to focus on children aged 0-3 to foster a quality pipeline and increase access to PK3 and PK4
Partner with early learning programs to build a common level of quality and culture
Generate a report to highlight and inform the community of financial inequities in early childhood education to shape local and state policy

Funding

Provide access to high quality professional development and a career pathway for early learning program practitioners

Other

Increase parent/caregiver knowledge of quality early learning programs available in Bexar County
Provide data and insight to political leaders to create/support a taskforce dedicated to addressing the shortage of early learning program practitioners

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