Yep, BC, I Can See The Changes Happening
 

Our state is going towards Stars being mandated eventually here too. :( I thought I'd be getting out before it happened but not sure anymore. But they are doing it 1 small step at a time and looking back I'm thinking 'how have we not seen it'. They began by encouraging us to go for level 1(made it sound so easy and come on, who couldn't use the $ incentive they offered?), then it was level 2(still pretty reasonable and higher incentive, hell yeh, I can do that), if you reached the 3rd level, you were considered quality(hmmm, getting trickier, lots more time invested in all this but still, higher incentives, increased subsidy payment plus with the strong support people we had through our local resource agency it was doable) AND being 3rd level we were being recognized as professionals. :confused::confused: It must mean we take so much better care of our children, right??
Then things started changing. They took away 1 of our local support people and gave her a different job. Now I'm not even seeing 3rd level Stars being mentioned as "quality'; it's 4 and 5. PLUS our other loyal 'can't do this without her' support person's job ends the end of this year. We all just found out. :mad::confused: I emailed her this a.m., telling her how I felt and how sorry I was to hear that. Words can't begin to tell you how much help these 2 people have been to the providers in our region. :( There doesn't seem to be any good local support left for us, it'll all be from the state level. And that has proven to be inadequate and confusing at best for the past couple of years.
I asked her if she could help me renew my STARS one more time. I will always provide quality child care, as long as I can do this job, but I will be doing it without Stars. :mad: I'm just hoping parents aren't always duped into thinking STARS=quality.:confused::mad:

Just my Monday a.m. vent.

It's still optional here, and I am opting out. THANKS to this board, no amount of money can convince me to voluntarily do it.

:hug:

Stars is still voluntary here too . But you can not accept state pay clients unless you enroll . I always said that I am done when starts becomes mandatory,

Originally Posted by Second Home:
Stars is still voluntary here too . But you can not accept state pay clients unless you enroll . I always said that I am done when starts becomes mandatory,

TN duped providers years ago (was supposed to be voluntary)... part of the reason I stayed licensed exempt; when the only 2 licensed homes in my county drop their license within months of each other this year, it does make one wonder. We can still take subsidy, but for half what licensed people get... exactly how is more paperwork & curriculum supposed to improve INFANT care?

Before I got into daycare myself I had no clue. I remember searching the state website for licensed providers... no way was I calling a less than four star for my precious angels. Not because I had any clue what the stars meant, but who sends their kids to a 1 star?!:eek: :lol: I toured several places and decided if that was 4 star I was scared for our future. The ONLY reason I have a better understanding now of what the stars mean is because of this forum. I don't think you average parent looking for care for the first time has any idea that stars doesn't translate to quality. Because, hotels and restaurants, right? :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
Our state is going towards Stars being mandated eventually here too. :( I thought I'd be getting out before it happened but not sure anymore. But they are doing it 1 small step at a time and looking back I'm thinking 'how have we not seen it'. They began by encouraging us to go for level 1(made it sound so easy and come on, who couldn't use the $ incentive they offered?), then it was level 2(still pretty reasonable and higher incentive, hell yeh, I can do that), if you reached the 3rd level, you were considered quality(hmmm, getting trickier, lots more time invested in all this but still, higher incentives, increased subsidy payment plus with the strong support people we had through our local resource agency it was doable) AND being 3rd level we were being recognized as professionals. :confused::confused: It must mean we take so much better care of our children, right??
Then things started changing. They took away 1 of our local support people and gave her a different job. Now I'm not even seeing 3rd level Stars being mentioned as "quality'; it's 4 and 5. PLUS our other loyal 'can't do this without her' support person's job ends the end of this year. We all just found out. :mad::confused: I emailed her this a.m., telling her how I felt and how sorry I was to hear that. Words can't begin to tell you how much help these 2 people have been to the providers in our region. :( There doesn't seem to be any good local support left for us, it'll all be from the state level. And that has proven to be inadequate and confusing at best for the past couple of years.
I asked her if she could help me renew my STARS one more time. I will always provide quality child care, as long as I can do this job, but I will be doing it without Stars. :mad: I'm just hoping parents aren't always duped into thinking STARS=quality.:confused::mad:

Just my Monday a.m. vent.

:hug:I totally understand:hug: QRIS started here in 2001....:confused::eek::ouch::(:mad:

Originally Posted by daycarediva:
It's still optional here, and I am opting out. THANKS to this board, no amount of money can convince me to voluntarily do it.

:hug:

likethis

Me, too, plus I'm too old to deal with the State of Illinois notorious bureaucracy and ineptitude.

Originally Posted by MyAngels:
likethis

Me, too, plus I'm too old to deal with the State of Illinois notorious bureaucracy and ineptitude.

Oh come on------ You mean Excelerate or whatever the @#*$ they call it now hasn't been just a boon of sunshine and opportunities for you? :lol::D:lol::D:lol::D:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Sorry- but I'm beyond cynical about ratings/ ranking systems.

Oh no! I'm sorry!

It's the opposite here - now they only visit every 2 years instead of every year and I've been told that it's slowly going down the tubes because (I don't remember the details) whatever organization started out with it quit doing it and most (all?) of the raters quit so the new organization had to start over again and they're terribly understaffed. I hope it fades away....

I would love it if someone explained what stars is.

We have a "Quality Indicators" program where we get a toy $ grant based on how many of the indicators we have accomplished. They get marked on our marketing page of the state child care website.

Does this equate with QRIS? And what is Stars?

We have the Top Star program, but that is federal and it's all about physical health and it's through the USDA or something like that.

Originally Posted by Mom2Two:
I would love it if someone explained what stars is.

https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...=stars+program

Originally Posted by Michael:
https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...=stars+program

Thanks, Michael. I already ran a search and I'm still not getting it. I'm going to email my CCR&R office--I'm sure they are familiar with what's going on in other states/federally.