Georgia’s current licensing system does not offer enough information to parents about the quality of care of child care centers. Child Care Resource Service has moved to the star rated license system. For example, under current system, a center that received an A license is meeting only minimum requirements but parents may believe that this is the highest rating. To minimize confusion and to maximize understanding, a five star licensing system was developed because this type of rating system is typical for many products and services.  An additional benefit of the star rated license system is that it recognized providers for the higher quality care that they provide. Lastly, the star rated license acts as a roadmap for providers to follow as they strive to improve the quality of their care. Child Care Resources Service will bridge the gap between child care facilities operating at the minimum level of quality to becoming “Nationally Accredited” by offering direction and information to child care providers in improving the quality of their child care business.

The Child Care Recourse Service Goals
1. Ensure that more Georgia Children are ready for kindergarten.
2. Provide parents with consumer information about program quality.
3. Provide resources so that all parents can assess and afford quality child care programs.
4. Create a system that builds on the foundation of Georgia’s licensing requirements.
5. Build on the strengths of the child care workforce by promoting and providing scholarships for training and education.
6. Provide program improvement grants to help programs move to a higher level of quality.
7. Provide performance bonuses to reward and recognize the higher cost of quality.

General Business Description
Child Care Resource Service help parents by proving information on what constitute quality child care and help parents become better consumers. Child Care Resource Service provides program rating to parents who ask for this information to help them determine which child care provider is best for their child’s development and which child care provider demonstrate quality standards which are linked to positive outcomes for their child. This quality standard is above the minimum requirement, in which most experts agree is inadequate in preparing children for kindergarten, In addition, the rating system and programs offer to providers will improve child care and child outcome, improving children’s school readiness throughout Georgia.  This information will be provided by a web search engine. When someone type in search term, for example, “child care Atlanta” Child Care Resource Service will show in the results.  Parents would be linked to the website, which would provide them with information of the quality of a particular child care facility, among other valuable information for parents who are in the market for child care. Parents can search a child care facility be cost, area, or “Star Rating” after choosing the facility, additional information will be provided.  In addition, Child Care Resource Service will offer child care facility low coat web design and web site house so parents can obtain even more information concerning the facility.

Studies have shown that at-risk children improve more than non at-risk children when they attend quality child care, providing quality child care for these at-risk children will  helping close the achievement gap in Georgia. One study conducted by the Minnesota Department of Education found that twice as many children who had attended accredited child care centers in Minnesota were fully prepared for kindergarten and less than 1 percent of these children attending accredited centers were ‘Not Yet Prepared” for kindergarten.  In addition, children from economically and educationally disadvantage households who attended accredited child care programs had the same school readiness as children from higher income and higher parent education levels (closing the achievement gap) (Minnesota Department of Education School Readiness assessment Study, 2003).