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Validating North Carolina's 5-Star Child Care Licensing System

Donna Bryant, Kathleen Bernier, Kelly Maxwell, & Ellen Peisner-Feinberg
February
2001

Independently gathered data from 84 child care centers validates North Carolina's new 5-star child care licensing system. Using data collected as part of the Smart Start evaluation, a significant relationship was found between the star rating level of a center and several other indicators of program quality. Parents and policymakers should be assured that centers with higher star ratings are indeed providing a higher quality of care for young children.