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National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance

The National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance (ECQA Center) supports state and community leaders and their partners in the planning and implementation of rigorous approaches to quality in all early care and education settings for children from birth to school age. The Center's expert staff use collaborative approaches to do the following:

  • Advance strong health and safety standards and licensing regulations that align with the Child Care and Development Fund and Head Start Performance Standards.
  • Support the development and enhancement of state quality initiatives, including quality rating and improvement systems.
  • Enhance quality assurance systems through the use of technology, data analysis, and research that promote continuous quality improvement, efficiency, and innovation.

Contact Us

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Announcements

Join the Child Care Licensing Community of Practice

The National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance (ECQA Center) understands that child care licensing administrators, managers, and supervisors have unique needs and want to communicate with others in similar roles. To connect you with your peers across the country, the ECQA Center, in...

Highlighted Tools

Licensing

The National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations is a tool for finding and searching state child care licensing regulations and licensing agency contact information. It also includes links to other state and national early childhood program standards.

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Program Standards Crosswalk

The Program Standards Crosswalk is a tool designed to help States that are developing and aligning program standards for licensing, quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS), and/or prekindergarten programs, to search and compare the content of several sets of national standards.

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QRIS Resource Guide

The QRIS Resource Guide provides guidance for States as they explore key issues and consider decision points during the planning and implementation of a quality rating and improvement system (QRIS).

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Provider Cost of Quality Calculator

The Provider Cost of Quality Calculator (PCQC) is a tool that calculates the cost of care by levels of quality based on site-level provider data. The tool can help state policymakers, child care providers, and other stakeholders understand the costs associated with delivering high-quality child care services.

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Resources and Information

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114 resources found.
Webinar - Models to Build, Expand and Sustain Quality Facilities and Services in High Need Communities

In this webinar, learn how three localities are focusing on building, expanding, and sustaining quality in their early learning communities. These communities have initiatives that encompass both coaching and facilities, and use financing in creative ways to address building and sustaining...

Addressing Equal Access through Alternative Methodologies and Cost Analyses

These slides accompanied a national webinar about the use of alternative methodologies and narrow cost analyses to inform Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidy payment rates within the context of equal access. They include information on approaches to estimating the cost of care...

Webinar - Using Grants and Contracts, Payment Rates, and Financial Incentives to Increase Supply and Improve Quality

This webinar included presentations by states that have used different strategies related to provider payments, grants and contracts, and financial incentives to help build and sustain the supply of high quality care in child care deserts.

This was the fourth webinar in the series—...

National Resources about Family Child Care

This webpage provides links to online tools and written products, by the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance and its partners, that support states, territories, and tribes in addressing health and safety and quality improvement in family child care ...

Child Care Licensing Tools and Resources

This webpage provides tools and resources developed by the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance and its partners, designed to help states and territories improve their child care licensing practices, strengthen provider requirements, and develop the skills of licensing staff....

QRIS Quality Standards Websites

QRIS quality standards are used to assign ratings to programs that participate in QRIS, providing parents and the public with information about each program’s quality. States often have multiple sets of standards for specific types of early care and education providers, such as child care...

Webinar Series About Strategies for Building and Financing the Supply of High-Quality Child Care

The National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance (ECQA Center) hosted a series of webinars about increasing the supply of and improving the quality of child care services for children in underserved areas, infants and toddlers, children with disabilities, and children who...

Webinar - State and Local Finance Strategies

This webinar focused on state and local revenue generation strategies that fund quality services for children and other aspects of a QRIS. Highlights included blending and braiding approaches to funding, the San Francisco financing approach, Dayton's income tax strategy, the Louisiana...

Webinar - Identifying, Mapping, and Alleviating Child Care Deserts

What are child care deserts? How do we recognize them and what communities do they impact? Through data-driven analysis, the scope of child care undersupply is coming into focus. Findings from two research organizations that are charting the child care desert landscape on this webinar. It...

Webinar - Building the Supply of High-Quality Child Care: An Overview

This webinar included a facilitated discussion among leaders across the country to introduce a variety of approaches they have used to build the supply of high-quality child care. Presenters explored approaches that have worked well and ones that have not. Strategies offered to the...

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