University of Illinois Urbana‑Champaign

ExceleRate: Licensed Family Child Care Homes in the ExceleRate Program

ExceleRate Illinois is a statewide quality recognition and improvement system for early learning providers, including licensed family child care homes.

Designed to make continuous quality improvement an everyday priority, the program establishes standards for helping infants, toddlers, and preschool-age children develop intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally. It provides a framework for early learning professionals to identify opportunities for improvement, increase their skills, and take steps to make positive changes.

There are four Circle of Quality designations:

  • The Licensed Circle of Quality is the foundational circle of quality, and recognizes compliance with the licensing standards of the State of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. 
  • The Bronze Circle of Quality recognizes qualifications and professional development, with completion of a robust series of trainings. Bronze Circle trainings are aligned with the standards of ExceleRate Illinois, and prepare programs for success as they progress through the Circles of Quality. 
  • The Silver Circle of Quality recognizes completion of a rigorous self-assessment and implementation of a continuous quality improvement process, as verified by an independent assessor. Silver Circle programs meet or exceed specific quality benchmarks on learning environment and instructional quality, along with selected administrative standards; qualifications; and professional development.
  • The Gold Circle of Quality recognizes programs which have demonstrated quality on all standards, as validated by an independent assessor. Gold Circle programs meet or exceed specific quality benchmarks on learning environment, instructional quality, and all administrative standards; group size and ratios; qualifications; and professional development.

Source of definition: ExceleRate Program

Data available on IECAM

Latest data: FY2023 (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023)

Total number of sites

The minimum known number of family child care homes licensed by DCFS in a geographic area (e.g., state or county)

Source of data: Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA)

Geographic region: These data are available by state, county, township, state House district, state Senate district, congressional district, ISBE region, IDHS region, municipality, ZIP Code ZCTA, ZIP Code postal, unit and elementary school district, and Chicago Community Area.

Notes:

  • The number reported here is the “minimum known” because not all centers report to INCCRRA.
  • Sites that are Head Start-only or Preschool for All-only are not included in these data.
  • Homes that served no children and homes that served “summer only” were not counted in the number of sites.

Number of sites with ExceleRate ratings

The number of licensed family child care homes with licensed circle of quality and with bronze, silver, and gold ratings.

Source of data: Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (INCCRRA)

Geographic region: These data are available by state, county, township, state House district, state Senate district, congressional district, ISBE region, IDHS region, municipality, ZIP Code ZCTA, ZIP Code postal, unit and elementary school district, and Chicago Community Area.

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