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

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

37.7%2022

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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 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
# of Licensed Facilities  448 445 449 462 448 446
Licensed capacity  52,261 52,512 52,291 53,842 53,376 54,246
# of Accredited Facilities  71 84 84 105 133 128
Accredited Capacity  11,717 13,957 13,649 17,434 20,856 20,456
% of Facilities Accredited 15.8% 18.9% 18.7% 22.7% 29.7% 28.7%
% of Accredited Capacity  22.4% 26.6% 26.1% 32.4% 39.1% 37.7%
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
  • 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
Partners
  • Alamo Colleges
  • All 7 TWC national accrediting entities
  • Child care facilities
  • Children’s learning Institute
    • Houston-based
  • COSA-CCS
  • COSA Head Start PK4SA
  • DFPS/Child Care Licensing
  • Family Service Association
  • KLRN
  • Region 20
  • San Antonio AEYC/National AEYC
  • School districts
  • TEA
  • TX Agri-life extension
  • United Way
  • Workforce Solutions Alamo
  • WSA-QIA
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

  • Incentivize child care centers to focus on children age 0 to 2, and then help those centers to systematize as a pipeline for public Pre-K with 3 and 4 year olds
  • Partner with Pre-K centers to build a common level of quality and culture
  • For the purpose of highlighting the issue, generate a white paper that describes the cost gap/inequality between the rate of ECE reimbursement and the cost of accreditation
  • As a city and county, determine a new, widely-recognized title for accredited teachers to distinguish their level of credentials

Funding

  • Provide access to training for ECE Directors and ECE teachers
  • Provide support and incentives for centers to progress towards accreditation

Other

  • Implement a CDA certification program at the high school level as a career path
  • Increase parent/caregivers knowledge of ECE through YELP-type reviews of child care centers
  • Initiate a mentorship/service-learning opportunity with Texas Rising Stars and the community college system that includes a residency opportunity for students
  • Create a standard definition of what is meant by quality across RKSA partners and providers across the City
  • Create a Mayor’s Taskforce for quality childcare

Scorecard Result Container Indicator Measure Action Actual Value Target Value Tag S R I P PM A m/d/yy m/d/yyyy