Early Educators’ Experiences With Parent Aware, Minnesota’s QRIS

Parent Aware is designed to rate the quality of care provided in the state’s ECE programs,[2] to provide tools and resources for families to connect with high-quality care that meets their needs, and to support programs in improving their practices. Participation in Parent Aware is currently voluntary, meaning programs can choose whether to become Parent Aware Rated as well as which Star Level they seek. However, the Minnesota Legislature recently passed a bill that will automatically assign all licensed child care programs a One-Star Rating unless the program opts out of the system.[3] The legislation requires additional research on the impacts and costs of this policy change to inform a final process for implementing the change by July 2026. This upcoming policy shift makes it even more critical to understand patterns of Parent Aware participation among ECE programs and potential impacts of moving from voluntary participation to a system in which all licensed child care programs are automatically assigned a Rating.

A Child Trends analysis of state administrative data found that, as of May 2024, around one in three ECE programs had a Parent Aware Rating (31%). The proportion of Rated programs was higher among child care centers than among family child care programs, with almost half of child care centers having Ratings (47%) compared to around one in five family child care programs (18%).[4] These data further underscore the importance of understanding the factors that influence programs’ decisions to participate in Parent Aware as well as the barriers that may prevent them from doing so. Some programs, for example, may experience barriers to participating or achieving a higher Star Rating Level due to a lack of capacity (e.g., lack of staff or time) or financial support to go through the application and Rating process. Other programs may perceive that Parent Aware is incompatible with their program philosophy or is not inclusive of the racial, ethnic, or linguistic characteristics of their program, their staff, or the populations they serve. Some may choose not to participate because they do not feel they need the supports that Parent Aware offers, while others may feel that a Rating is not needed to market their program to families because their program is operating at full enrollment.[5] Non-participation of these programs may result in systemic biases in Parent Aware such that quality improvement opportunities are provided for select programs, while non-participating programs cannot access these supports.

As Minnesota explores the implications of implementing a One-Star Rating in all licensed programs, understanding early educators’ perceptions of Parent Aware and reasons for non-participation may shed light on opportunities to better support programs through the Rating process and to strengthen community buy-in for Parent Aware. Importantly, this work also coincides with DCYF’s efforts on the Parent Aware Redesign, which, building on recommendations from the Parent Aware Racial Equity Action Plan Report,[6] aims to assess the effectiveness of Parent Aware as a system, to understand and address inequities, and to make improvements that support the needs of the children, families, and members of the ECE workforce whom the system was designed to serve.[7] The intersection of the Parent Aware evaluation, the Redesign, and the upcoming Automatic One-Star legislation presents a unique opportunity to examine Parent Aware’s effectiveness and identify meaningful improvements to ensure that Parent Aware equitably supports the needs of early educators, families, and children across the state.