Clear all

4 results found

reorder grid_view

The Quest For Equity and Quality Examining Provider Experiences and Participation in Texas Rising Star

April 1, 2022

Exposure to high-quality child care is the foundation for a child's academic and social-emotional success, especially for children from low-income families. Increasing access to subsidized child care is one of the many strategies used to provide affordable early education to children from low-income families. However, increasing access alone is not enough when it comes to early learning. Children need to be in high-quality care to reap the many benefits.One systematic way to measure and increase quality of child care programs is through a state's Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). QRIS is a systematic framework used to measure, improve, and communicate the quality of early childhood education (ECE) providers across a range of indicators. In Texas, this system is called Texas Rising Star (TRS). TRS is only open to child care providers who accept families receiving subsidy child care assistance. While TRS offers incentives for participation including professional development and increased reimbursement rates, currently TRS reaches only a fraction of lowincome children and the providers. 

Building Brains & Economies: Quality Child Care as an Engine for Economic Development in a 21st Century Texas

November 1, 2018

Texas is beginning to fall behind when it comes to student success and job-readiness. Quality child care can improveboth outcomes, yet our state is currently lacking in access to quality child care. This can put the Texas economic miraclein peril. Building on current efforts across the state, Texas can pave the way for success in the 21st century by making strategic investments to:Increase the number of child care providers certified quality throughTexas Rising Star.Build a path toward school-readiness.Ensure that child care teachers are adequately trained andcompensated.Know the cost for quality child care and reimburse accordingly.Make child care businesses more sustainable.

Improving the Quality of Child Care Through Economies of Scale: A Look at Shared Services Approaches for Texas

January 1, 2018

In recent years, Texas advocates, researchers, child care providers, public officials, and other stakeholders have been working to improve the quality of child care and access to quality child care, especially for low-income families. While there is no silver bullet, using a Shared Sefvices framework to strengthen systems at the provider level is a promising concept. A Shared Services approach focuses on sharing skilled staff and resources to provide business and pedagogical leadership among a network of center- and/or home-based providers. In at least 28 states, and more than two dozen communities, early care and education leaders are using a Shared Services approach to help tackle long-standing challenges such as raising and sustaining program quality, increasing teacher compensation, and implementing sound business practices. This preliminary brief explores various models of Shared Services and special considerations for the state of Texas.

2016 Texas Public School Rankings Methodology

May 1, 2016

Each year, CHILDREN AT RISK reexamines its methodology of ranking schools to ensure that the rankings most accurately reflects school performance, utilizes the most appropriate data available, and incorporates feedback from educators, researchers, and service providers.CHILDREN AT RISK is pleased to have completed the 2016 Annual School Rankings. Student Achievement Index – Performance on STAAR Reading and Math testsCampus Performance Index – An adjustment of achievement indicators to eliminate bias toward campuses with low percentages of economically disadvantaged studentsGrowth Index – The improvement over time on standardized test scores in Reading, English, and MathCollege Readiness Index - graduation rates, SAT/ACT participation rate and scores, and AP/IB participation rate and scores