Revising a Measure of Family Child Care Quality: Taking Stock and Elevating FCC Educator Voice

• In Event: Equity Issues in Measurement of Home-Based Child Care Quality

Abstract

The Early Childhood Quality Improvement Pathway System (EQuIPS) was designed to be a measure of program quality that utilizes observation and document review in licensed family child care programs (FCC). EQuIPS was designed to yield a program portrait rather than a program score with an emphasis on gathering information to support the success of family child care programs in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). EQuIPS is structured around two components: an assessment of caregiving practices through observation and an assessment of administrative practices through document review. Components and key constructs were derived from a literature review that included empirical research and professional association recommendations. Constructs for the observation, that are the same for FCC and centers, are Interactions and Community, Curriculum and Instruction, Daily Organization, Outdoor Environment, and Red Flags (problematic practices that help identify the lower end of quality). Constructs for FCC document review are Stability and Continuity, Support for Teaching and Learning, Family Engagement and Community Partnerships, and Professional Development and Quality Improvement.
Since this time, the child care landscape has shifted dramatically. Concerns about racism and bias in state QRIS have surfaced along with a global pandemic that has exposed longstanding vulnerabilities in the early care and education system (Malik, Hamm, Lee, Davis, & Sojourner, 2020; Meek et al., 2020). These concerns affect all types of programs within the early care and education system but are particularly salient to the FCC sector. FCC are often women of color caring for children in marginalized communities with substantially lower pay than their center-based counterparts (Whitebook et al., 2019). FCC are often overlooked in quality systems implementation with many measurement approaches being designed initially for center-based programs. A revision of the EQuIPS is currently underway employing the Transformativist Measurement Development Methodology (Sankofa, 2021) that centers the voices of family child care educators in the measurement development process. In applying this approach, the developers return to the key stakeholder group to capture their perspectives on quality and measurement approaches.
The current study addresses the following questions: 1) What are the critical features of FCC quality that are salient to and identified by family child care educators? 2) Drawing on EQuIPS pilot data and FCC perspectives, what key elements of quality should be assessed and in what ways?
Data for Research Question #1 is being collected in Fall, 2022. Three focus groups will be conducted with FCC across two states. These focus groups will focus on construct definition and operationalization of quality. Semi-structured focus groups will be conducted in English and Spanish over Zoom. Qualitative data will be analyzed using NVivo 12 software and thematic analysis with open coding (Braun & Clarke, 2021).
Data for Research Question #2 will integrate findings from the FCC focus groups with EQuIPS pilot data. Pilot data consist of 50 FCC from one state across quality levels. Data will include rubric scores of FCC programmatic data (e.g. program handbooks, lesson plans) as presented in Table 1. Pilot observational scores are presented in Table 2.

Authors

• Rena Hallam, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author

• Alison Hooper, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa