Step Up to Quality, Ohio's 5-star early care & child care rating and improvement system, recognizes programs that exceed minimum health and safety standards and promotes children’s learning and development. Step Up To Quality helps parents choose services that provide both an educational and developmental experience for their son or daughter, while at the same time giving providers enhanced funding for offering high-quality care. When Step Up to Quality was implemented, the state set statutory goals that mandated 100% of licensed child care providers be high-quality rated (3 to 5 stars) by 2025 with the following threshold benchmarks as of June 30 each year.
We are still far from our goal of having 100% child care providers rated in the system (1-5 stars) by 2020 and even farther from the ultimate 2025 mandate. As of August 31, 2018:
Only 35% of licensed child care Centers /Type A Homes are rated (1-5 stars), accounting for 48% of all PFCC eligible children
Only 26% of licensed child care Centers/Type A Homes are high-quality rated (3-5 stars), accounting for 30% of all PFCC children
(SOURCE: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Early Childhood Advisory Council Meeting, October 18, 2018)
Learn more about Step Up to Quality.
The Vote for Ohio Kids Leadership Forum may have passed, but our work is far from over! With Ohio's upcoming gubernatorial election less than a month away, it's time to ramp up the pressure on candidates Richard Cordray and Mike DeWine to make sure they make early childhood education and health care top priorities if elected. We hope you'll use the sample tweets and resources in this election-focused media toolkit to help elevate these issues and show our gubernatorial candidates that voters support increased investments in our youngest learners!
Early Childhood Resource for Parents, Caregivers, and Programs
Ohio's new and improved BOLD Beginning! website offers resources for anyone interacting with kids during their early critical years of development--starting from pregnancy through the beginning of formal schooling. Whether you're a parent, grandparent, provider, teacher, or other caregiver, the site has easy-to-access resources that can help you foster kids' healthy development, learn about state-funded programs for parents and children, and find support in your community. Explore the website here to check out resources like the developmental milestone videos below!
Learn more about Step Up to Quality here.