NAEYC accreditation

• The NAEYC offers a voluntary accreditation process that measures administrator and teacher qualifications and program standards. Other measures include parent-teacher relationships, child-development assessment, community interaction and health and safety.
  
  

Quality Assurance Measures

• Some states offer quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) that measure teacher qualifications, student-teacher ratios, communication between caregivers and parents and the openness to ongoing training.
  
  

Environmental Rating Scales

• The Environmental Rating Scales, created in 1980 and revised since then, consist of four different scales based on child age and the nature of the daycare center: The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition (ITERS-R), used for infants and toddlers, the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition (ECERS-R) for preschoolers, the Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition (FCCERS-R) for home daycares, and the School Age Environment Rating Scale (SACERS).
  
  

ERS measures

• The specifics for each Environmental Rating Scale differ to accommodate age-specific requirements but essentially the scales measure program quality, classroom behavior and equipment needs.
  
  

Rating Scales

• The ECERS system uses a 5-point scale, assigning a 5 for excellent quality and a 1 for poor quality. The QRIS system rating scales vary from state to state.