Quality Standards

A Framework for High Quality Early Care and Education

QUALITYstarsNY Standards represent the best practices and policies in early childhood care and education. Developed by leading experts in the field of early childhood learning and development from across the state and then validated by research, QUALITYstarsNY Standards are used to assess and rate the quality of an early childhood program.

Programs earn points toward their rating for meeting these key quality indicators and receive a 1-5 Star rating.

Learn more about the QUALITYstarsNY Rating Process or Points System.

Sets of Standards

The elements of a high quality program can differ based on the setting of the early childhood program. QUALITYstarsNY has developed three sets of Standards for center-based programs, public school-based programs, and family child care to reflect quality in each setting.

In addition to the three sets of standards currently in use, a draft of the School-Age Program Standards is available for download.

We’ve also developed online, Interactive Standards that provides quick access to the Standards and additional information and resources to help enrich program understanding of the Standards and how to meet them.

Abbreviated Standards

Additionally, programs that already comply with a set of high quality requirements through Head Start or either NAEYC or NAFCC Accreditation have an abbreviated set of Standards that takes into account the complimentary nature of  these requirements and the QUALITYstarsNY Standards.

Four Key Areas of Quality

QUALITYstarsNY assesses four key areas that work together to create a high quality early childhood program where children, families, and providers can thrive.

Learn More

Find the Right Program

Download our checklist for parents to spot high quality practices when looking for a care and education program for your child.

Qualifications & Experience Inquiry Form

During the QUALITYstarsNY rating process, several Standards are scored based on documentation that program leaders and staff upload to their profiles in The Aspire Registry, as shown in your program’s Qualifications & Experience (Q&E) Report. Please submit this form if you need support or have questions about how your program or staff’s Aspire Information is feeding into Q&E Report.