An estimated 51% of Utah children under the age of 6 have a child care need. Low-income children may have access to child care subsidies to offset the costs of child care. Child care providers who accept child care subsidies are serving children of low-income working parents. Research demonstrates that child outcomes improve for low-income children who attend high-quality child care programs. The Utah Office of Child Care provides resources, including financial and coaching, to improve the quality of child care programs serving low-income children to ensure children are ready for kindergarten.

This indicator is based on a percentage of all licensed programs, center and family, serving at least 10 percent of the children receiving child care subsidies. A child care provider is considered to be participating in a program to improve quality if it is receiving a quality improvement grant from the Utah Office of Child Care or observed to be high quality. These grants provide financial resources, professional development, coaching and technical assistance for providers. Additionally, the grants include an evaluation of provider quality utilizing an evidence-based, nationally normed assessment tool recognized in the child care field.

The 2017 report is the first time this indicator was measured.