Default Style Register
Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Yep, BC, I Can See The Changes Happening
Josiegirl 02:50 AM 10-02-2017
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. 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. 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. I'm just hoping parents aren't always duped into thinking STARS=quality.

Just my Monday a.m. vent.
Reply
daycarediva 03:54 AM 10-02-2017
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.


Reply
Second Home 06:05 AM 10-02-2017
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,
Reply
LysesKids 06:23 AM 10-02-2017
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?
Reply
TheMisplacedMidwestMom 07:59 AM 10-02-2017
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?! 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?
Reply
Annalee 09:25 AM 10-02-2017
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. 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. 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. I'm just hoping parents aren't always duped into thinking STARS=quality.

Just my Monday a.m. vent.
I totally understand QRIS started here in 2001....
Reply
MyAngels 11:05 AM 10-02-2017
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.



Me, too, plus I'm too old to deal with the State of Illinois notorious bureaucracy and ineptitude.
Reply
DaveA 12:34 PM 10-02-2017
Originally Posted by MyAngels:


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?

Sorry- but I'm beyond cynical about ratings/ ranking systems.
Reply
AmyKidsCo 01:15 PM 10-02-2017
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....
Reply
Mom2Two 02:42 PM 10-02-2017
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.
Reply
Michael 06:14 PM 10-04-2017
Originally Posted by Mom2Two:
I would love it if someone explained what stars is.
https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...=stars+program
Reply
Mom2Two 03:18 PM 10-05-2017
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.
Reply
Tags:federal funding, over regulation, qris, quality, race to the top, ratings, stars program, wisconsin member, wisconsin regulations
Reply Up