Quality Care

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Quality Care and Texas Rising Star

CCS encourages parents to choose a provider who meets quality child care standards. Choosing a high-quality program can have a significant impact on a child’s readiness for success in kindergarten and later grades.

Please email trs_mentors@wsalamo.org for questions regarding Texas Rising Star.

What is Quality Care?

Texas Government Code §2308.3171 defines a “quality child care indicator” as any appropriate indicator of quality services, including if the provider is:

  • A Texas Rising Star certified provider;
  • Accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting organization approved by the Texas Workforce Commission;
  • Kindergarten Readiness System certified; or
  • Participating in the Texas School Ready! Project
Texas Rising Star
Texas Rising Star Provider certification is a process for improving the quality of child care services provided in Texas. A TRS Provider is a child care provider that has an agreement with Child Care Services (CCS) to serve Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Scholarship children and that meets requirements that exceed the State’s Minimum Licensing Standards for child care facilities.
 
A pre-K partnership is when a school partners with one or more quality-rated child care programs to provide high-quality care and education to three and four–year-old children. Child care programs must meet criteria to participate in a pre-K partnership. For providers who want to learn more about pre-K partnerships, visit the Texas Child Care Connection pre-K Partnership web page at Pre-K Partnerships | Texas Child Care Connection.
 
To view the Texas Rising Star program overview video for providers, visit Texas Rising Star Overview for Providers (English).
 
The Texas Rising Star certification system provides graduated levels of certification as providers meet progressively higher certification requirements. Certification as a Texas Rising Star Provider is available to Licensed Center, Licensed Child Care Home, and Registered Child Care Home providers who meet the certification criteria.
 
The Texas Rising Star program certification process includes three steps that CCS providers must complete within a two-year time frame. To learn about the certification process, visit Getting certified | Texas Child Care Connection.
 
The process improves the quality of child care provided, not only to TWC Scholarship children, but to all children enrolled in certified facilities. TRS certified providers are eligible for an enhanced reimbursement rate.
 
Nationally Recognized Accreditation Organizations
  • National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
  • National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC)
  • National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA)
  • National Accreditation Commission for Early Child Care and Education (NAC)
  • Council of Accreditation (COA)
  • Cognia
  • Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI)
  • Early Head Start and/or Head Start Programs (regulated by CCR offering wrap-around services)
  • American Montessori Society (AMS)
  • Association Montessori International/USA (AMI/USA)
  • Middle States Association (MSA)

Note: This list is subject to change.

Texas School Ready

The Texas School Ready! (TSR!) critical instructional components of TSR! include: research-based curriculum, ongoing professional development through classroom mentoring, and progress monitoring of children through personal digital assistant devices.

Quality Mentoring Services

Quality Mentoring Services is designed to increase the number of and access to high-quality early education and school-age care in the Alamo region. We focus on child care program support through quality mentoring, training, and education in order to help your program reach its goal of achieving and maintaining Texas Rising Star Certification.

The benefits of our program include one-on-one mentoring, technical assistance, priority for professional development opportunities, as well as financial incentives. To get started on a path of continuous quality improvement, please click on the links for the provider letter and mentoring application.

 

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