Editor’s note: This commentary is by Aubrey Boyles, who is the owner/operator of a registered home day care in Montpelier. She is a former member of the Montpelier Recreation Department board, the Mama Says Inc. board, and the Vermont Early Childhood Alliance’s interim steering committee.
[L]et’s Grow Kids recently published a report titled “Stalled at the Start” regarding access to regulated child care, access to “high-quality” child care, and the role of the STARS program. The report is insulting, ill-considered and fundamentally inaccurate. There are a few things about the study concerning to child care providers and parents across the state.
Participation in STARS is optional and Let’s Grow Kids’ “four stars equals high quality” assumption is false. As the sole proprietor of a registered home day care in Montpellier I was initially hesitant to join STARS at all. I already considered my program to be of high quality (and had the waiting list of well- informed, educated families to prove it). I knew that joining STARS would not enable me to raise my prices. I was finally won over by two things the program had to offer. The first was a financial incentive (which I put back into my program) and the second was recognition. I was told that every star was in recognition of going above and beyond standard regulations. At first my program was awarded two stars. A few months later I reapplied and my program received a third star. Both times I was sent a certificate and a note of congratulations suggesting I hang the certificate proudly for all the families I work with to see. You can therefore imagine my shock when I learned that Let’s Grow Kids has declared my program, along with the majority of programs across the state, to be not “high quality” simply because I haven’t chosen to get yet another supposedly optional star.
The study insults and demeans the majority of child care providers in the state who have zero, one, two or three stars. These providers are listed as a contributing factor in either “stalling” or being a “hazard” regarding our kids’ education and development. I truly have difficulty believing that Let’s Grow Kids chose these words. I am no hazard. I am high quality.
The study seems intentionally designed to cause panic among families looking for high-quality care. In Montpelier there is one provider with more than three stars. That one provider certainly can’t take on all the capital’s kids and most definitely isn’t the only one in town providing high-quality child care. You have told parents that if they choose anyone with less than four stars they are essentially failing their kids.
The study insults and demeans the majority of child care providers in the state who have zero, one, two or three stars. These providers are listed as a contributing factor in either “stalling” or being a “hazard” regarding our kids’ education and development.
The fundamental problem with the study is that it assumes that the STARS program is an accurate measure of quality. It is not. STARS places a premium on providers engaged in extracurricular activities like teaching college classes, attending legislative sessions, writing articles or serving as keynote speakers, none of which equate to higher-quality care for the children and families they work with.
The study’s further assumption that non-participation in STARS means low quality is also false. Many providers don’t have to change the content of their program to qualify for stars. Often it’s a matter of taking the time to document things we already do but rarely have time to write down. The quality of my program has been consistently high, both before and since I joined STARS. And there are providers who run amazing, high-quality programs but for whom the financial incentive or the recognition provided by STARS isn’t enough to pique their interest in joining. I know several of them. The Let’s Grow Kids’ report insults them and devalues their work in the eyes of the public and the families they serve.
The report’s bleak conclusions rest on assumptions directly contrary to the STARS program’s own statements to providers, it insults the majority of active STARS participants, and it plants baseless fear in the hearts and minds of families looking for high-quality care. I find it very troubling that an organization supposedly devoted to serving children and families published this.
Furthermore, the misleading and inaccurate information presented by Let’s Grow Kids ultimately distracts us from the larger problem which is the basic lack of regulated child care. The state struggles, with the limited resources it has, to keep tabs on providers already registered and licensed. Let’s Grow Kids should put its energy into supporting all these providers and look for ways to make registration and licensure more accessible to providers who are currently unregulated.
