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State's Child Care: Quality improved dramatically: Centers rise to the challenge |
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State's Child Care: Quality improves dramatically: Centers rise to the
challenge
By ANGEL RIGGS World Capitol Bureau
2/28/2007
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The number of Oklahoma child-care centers meeting the
state's benchmarks for providing quality care has doubled in the past
five years.
Child-care officials say the increase comes as today's parents expect
more from child-care providers.
"If they see a center where the teachers are well-educated in their
field, that gives them a better security right there," said LaVerne
Mazur, director of Bixby's Primary Concepts Preschool.
The two-star preschool, which cares for children from 6 weeks old
through the fifth grade, isn't just a day-care center, Mazur said.
"It is really a child development center."
Specialized staff members are educated in child development and know
what to expect and how to stimulate children's minds, she said.
That's attractive to parents who are savvy about early childhood
education and want their children ready for the state's 4-year-old
programs, she said.
The number of child-care facilities with two stars in the state's rating
system has grown 172 percent in the past five years, the Commission for
Human Services was told at its monthly meeting Tuesday.
The number of facilities with three stars -- the state's highest ranking
-- has increased 203 percent.
"There is certainly better child care available in Oklahoma," Mark
Lewis, the Department of Human Services' director of child care
services, said after the meeting.
"For us to have that kind of increase over five years is really
meaningful," he said, adding that teachers' efforts to acquire more
education and training is the major component in the higher-quality
care.
Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Department of Human Services developed
its Reach for the Stars program to help spur better quality at
child-care facilities and increase child-care accessibility to
low-income families.
Child-care providers earn stars through additional training, earning
college degrees or certifications, and other classroom-centered
activities, such as making sure children are read to daily and creating
weekly lesson plans.
The three-star centers are nationally accredited.
The program is a major commitment for teachers that's not always
financially feasible, especially because Oklahoma preschool teachers
make less than $7 an hour on average, Lewis said.
However, the state provides scholarships and other incentives for
teachers to take classes, assessments and tests, he said.
On average, DHS pays at least part of the child-care expenses for about
45,000 Oklahoma kids each month, Lewis said.
"We represent about one-third of the market," he said.
While three-star facilities are paid more for their services, the
families' share of the payment is the same for any level of care. That
increases the incentive for providers to attain higher-quality status,
he said.
Judy Priebe is director of St. John's Childcare Center, a two-star
facility for employees at St. John's Medical Center. She said the
state's star program has "given a new awareness to everyone about how
important early childhood is and the quality of care children receive
during that time."
It has also validated the years of work by employees, Priebe said.
"It's sort of given everybody just more of a feeling of 'What I do is
very, very important.' "
OKLAHOMA CHILD CARE
Three-star facilities:
From 66 in 2002 to an estimated 200 in 2007, an increase of 203 percent.
Two-star facilities:
From 735 in 2002 to an estimated 2,000 in 2007, an increase of 172
percent.
Total child-care slots:
From 140,258 in 2003 to an estimated 141,104 in 2007.
Children in subsidized child care:
From a monthly average of 48,803 in 2003 to a monthly average of 42,443
in 2007.
Source: Department of Human Services
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