Looking for quality child care in Illinois? Here’s some ways to vet day care facilities

Most infant care programs and many other day cares have waitlists right now, in part due to staffing issues and licensing restrictions.

If you’re lucky enough to find somewhere your child can go, how can you evaluate the program’s quality?

ExceleRate Illinois provides parents with a framework to determine the quality of a facility based on its state licensure and whether it holds a bronze, silver or gold circle of quality.

You can use ExceleRate’s search tool to find out whether the child care option you are considering holds a state license and/or a quality rating from the organization. Child care providers are designated as holding a circle of quality based on whether they meet guidelines for training, education, administrative standards and more.

Shauna Ejeh, senior vice president for Illinois Action for children, recommended this tool and also said personal experience is important in choosing a facility.

“In the end, it’s about whether or not your child is going to feel comfortable in that experience, and whether or not that environment is what you want for your child. Visiting either that home or that center, I think, is always critical in trying to understand whether or not it would be a good fit,” Ejeh said.

ExceleRate’s bronze circle of quality indicates a program’s staff has completed ExceleRate Illinois trainings and meets qualifications related to continuous program improvement.

The silver circle means a program has reached certain qualifications in the three areas of learning environment and teaching quality, administrative standards and training/education.

Achieving a gold circle designation means a program has met the highest quality standard in the above three areas.

You can check a program’s compliance with licensing requirements here, and a list of licensing requirements is also available online.

More advice about how to choose a child care provider is available from Child Care Aware.

This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Looking for quality child care in Illinois? Here’s some ways to vet day care facilities."