Article Aabout Our State's QRIS-WI

[AmyKidsCo]

I don't totally agree, but I get what you're saying. But, honestly, the regulations are in place just fine, IMO. It's the ENFORCING of the regs that I take issue with. Illegal providers (for out-of-staters, that's anyone caring for 3+ children under age 7 without a license), and the regulated providers who don't meet the standards (I'm not talking about paperwork violations...there needs to be some degrees of severity). Once they get those things accomplished with some consistency, THEN they can worry about the next step.

A fantastic model is the accreditation model through NAFCC or Satellite (local Madison program). In both those models, there are approx. 250 standards, but only a handful are mandatory. Then, a combination of self-study (reflection), observation by a trained observer, and provider interview earn you the credential. THAT is how you encourage quality. Make accreditation affordable (maybe through scholarships), and give incentives to accredited providers, as well as higher pay for state-assistance clients. Make people WANT to be accredited. For the most part, we WANT to do better. We WANT to learn and serve our families. We just want to do that and still be ourselves, right?

Another argument for regulation is that IMO it's easier to "catch" illegal providers - if you're not regulated you're illegal, simple as that. But I totally agree about enforcement not being consistent. My friend and I took CPR together for years and one year we forgot to enroll in time so our certification expired about a month before the class we were enrolled in. We had different licensors who happened to visit us both and were told the same story. Hers said it was OK since she was enrolled in a class but mine gave me a non-compliance.

I also agree about accreditation. I keep looking at it but there's NO way I can afford it, and honestly I don't think it wouldn't make a difference to parents anyway. I'm on the 3rd highest Registry level (WI early childhood career ladder) and the parents don't care about that. At this point the stress of accreditation isn't worth it for me - I can work towards meeting those standards and improve my program just for myself, without the expense and stress of having someone come look things over.

[Play Care]

no kidding!

In the cities, the rates are 2-2.5 times what they are here.

Honestly, from a parents perspective, how does one pay $250 a week for childcare? What kind of job would you need to have to pay that, and if you have 2 kids, forget it!

I'm thinking a "typical" job. A bank teller, for instance, in Madison probably makes $12 and hour. That's $480 a week. If she has 2 kids, she would be better off staying home. Even with one, after taxes, transportation costs, and apparel costs, the net gain would be pretty minimal.

Like it or not, there is a cap to what parents are willing to pay for care. It's not because they are being cheap, it's because they need to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. I think it's unreasonable to think that higher qualifications/advanced degrees are going to change those basic facts.

[Heidi]

Another argument for regulation is that IMO it's easier to "catch" illegal providers - if you're not regulated you're illegal, simple as that. But I totally agree about enforcement not being consistent. My friend and I took CPR together for years and one year we forgot to enroll in time so our certification expired about a month before the class we were enrolled in. We had different licensors who happened to visit us both and were told the same story. Hers said it was OK since she was enrolled in a class but mine gave me a non-compliance.

I also agree about accreditation. I keep looking at it but there's NO way I can afford it, and honestly I don't think it wouldn't make a difference to parents anyway. I'm on the 3rd highest Registry level (WI early childhood career ladder) and the parents don't care about that. At this point the stress of accreditation isn't worth it for me - I can work towards meeting those standards and improve my program just for myself, without the expense and stress of having someone come look things over.

Amy...

WFFCA has scholarships to cover the cost of accreditation. You just have to go to one of their trainings. Go to their website or call Celeste Swaboda to find out more.

Getting accredited here is a lengthy process, but not a difficult one. WI already has some of the highest standards, and if you are consistently following regs (which I know you are), you're probably doing just about everything you need, so you'd be more or less just documenting it and doing an observation.

Once you've gone through that, you could (if you wanted to) sign up with Youngstar and be a 5-star right away (because you have a 4 year degree).


Think about it....

[MarinaVanessa]

I also agree about accreditation. I keep looking at it but there's NO way I can afford it, and honestly I don't think it wouldn't make a difference to parents anyway. I'm on the 3rd highest Registry level (WI early childhood career ladder) and the parents don't care about that.

I can totally relate here because this was exactly my argument when I attended our local Infant/Toddler Symposium earlier in the year. We (preschool teachers, FCC providers, center providers/teachers/directors, child advocates etc) got to sit with the County Office of Education directors and discuss whatever issues we wanted and the topic of quality care came up where the Office of Education kept saying "provider training" to improve quality. My argument was that they needed to focus more on educating parents rather than just us as providers and caregivers because many parents are mainly interested "how much do you charge" vs "how educational is your program".

When I first started I set my rate and had my program set up to be open ended and development approach. I did ok and all but did not advertise it as "preschool" or anything. People would call and ask for my prices and were more interested in hearing about what I charged vs what we did with the children during the day and what we learned. I later changed my advertising tactic to include terms like "preschool curriculum", "kindergarten readiness" and "educational" and changed absolutely nothing else about my program. In essence I did the same things and did the same activities and charged the same rate but I added a few extra words in there and "at no additional cost" and all of a sudden people were like "oh wow, great. I don't have to pay extra for this? Sign me up" OR "Hmm, well if my child didn't do all those things and just needed daycare what would you charge?.

On the other side of the coin many parents hear quality child care and expect their child to be reading, writing and working on worksheets even if they are under age 5 when the reality is that even my nephew that just spent a year in preschool (Jump Start which is similar to Head Start) still can't identify many of the letters or spell his own last name which is ok ... they are meant to be exposed to the alphabet, not to know it, in preparation to kindergarten.

I think families need to be educated more about the importance of finding quality child care, what quality child care actually means and what to expect from child care that is and isn't quality child care.