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The 2020 Child Care Licensing Study provides information collected about child care licensing programs and policies and the facility requirements for child care centers, family child care homes, and group child care homes for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The data about licensing requirements for child care centers, family child care homes, and group child care homes were collected by the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance from the regulations posted on the National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations that were in effect as of December 31, 2020. The licensing regulations data cover the following areas:

• Licensing regulations
• Additional staff training requirements
• Definition of licensed child care centers
• Child-staff ratios and group size
• Staff roles and age requirements
• Supervision of children
• Staff qualifications and ongoing training requirements
• Care of children
• Facility requirements
• Staff hiring requirements

The same web site was used to collect licensing regulations covering the above listed topics for small family child care homes and large/group family child care homes.

This survey was conducted as part of the New Jersey Childhood Obesity Study, a project designed to provide vital information for planning, implementing, and evaluating interventions aimed at preventing childhood obesity in five New Jersey municipalities: Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Vineland. Conducted among households with 3-18 year old children in the 5 cities, the survey interviewed the adult who made most of the decisions about food shopping in each household. The survey examined perceptions about food and physical activity environments in the five cities, investigated barriers related to access to healthy food and physical activity facilities, and collected information on the height and weight and food and physical activity behaviors of the cities' 3-18 year old children and the adult respondents. In addition, the survey collected demographic information about the household members.

Four linkable datasets contain the survey data: the Household File, Index Child File, Adult File, and All Child File. The Household File covers household and neighborhood characteristics, while the Index Child File describes the characteristics and behaviors of a randomly selected 3-18 year old child in the household, who is designated the "index child" and is the primary unit of analysis. The Adult File comprises characteristics and behaviors of the adult respondent, and, lastly, the All Child File covers a few characteristics of all children aged 3-18 in the household.

The 2014 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, or FACES 2014, is the sixth in a series of national studies of Head Start, with earlier studies conducted in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009. This release includes nationally representative samples of Head Start programs and centers, classrooms, children and their families through spring of 2017. Data from surveys of Head Start program and center directors, classroom teachers, and parents provided descriptive information about program policies and practices, classroom activities, and the background and experiences of Head Start staff and families. Classroom observations were used to assess the quality of Head Start classrooms. Children in the study participated in a direct assessment that provided a picture of their school readiness skills at different time points.

FACES 2014 used a new study design that differs from earlier rounds of FACES in several important ways: (1) it included larger program and classroom samples, (2) all data were collected in a single program year, (3) the baseline sample of children included both children enrolled in their first and second year of Head Start, and (4) several special studies were conducted along with the main (Core) study to collect more detailed information about a given topic, to study new populations of Head Start programs and participants, and to evaluate measures for possible use in future rounds of FACES. For example, the Family Engagement Plus study collected information from parents and staff (teachers and family services staff) on family engagement efforts and service provision in Head Start programs.

The Office of Head Start, the Administration for Children and Families, other federal agencies, local programs, and the public have depended on FACES for valid and reliable national information on (1) the skills and abilities of Head Start children, (2) how Head Start children's skills and abilities compare with preschool children nationally, (3) Head Start children's readiness for and subsequent performance in kindergarten, and (4) the characteristics of the children's home and classroom environments. The FACES study was designed to enable researchers to answer a wide range of research questions that are crucial for aiding program managers and policymakers. Some of the questions that are central to FACES include:

1. What are the demographic characteristics of the population of children and families served by Head Start? How has the population served by Head Start changed?
2. What are the experiences of families and children in the Head Start program? How have they changed?
3. What are the cognitive and social skills of Head Start children at the beginning and end of the program year? Has Head Start program performance improved over time?
4. What are the qualifications of Head Start teachers in terms of education, experience, and credentials? Are average teacher education levels rising in Head Start?
5. What is the observed quality of Head Start classrooms as early learning environments, including the level and range of teaching and interactions, provisions for learning, emotional and instructional support, and classroom organization? How has quality changed over time?
6. What program- and classroom-level factors are related to observed classroom quality?
7. How is observed quality related to children's outcomes and developmental gains?

The User Guide provides detailed information about the FACES 2014 study design, execution, and data to inform and assist researchers who may be interested in using the data for future analyses. The following items are provided in the User Guide as appendices.

• Appendix A - Elements Of The FACES Design And Key Measures Used (And Child Outcomes Captured): FACES 1997 - FACES 2014
• Appendix B - Copyright Permissions
• Appendix C - Instrument Content Matrices
• Appendix D - Instruments
• Appendix E - Spring 2015 Center/Program Codebook
• Appendix F - Spring 2015 Classroom/Teacher Codebook
• Appendix G - 2014-2015 Child Codebook
• Appendix H - Spring 2015 Family Engagement Family Service Staff Interview Codebook
• Appendix I - Spring 2015 Family Engagement Parent Interview Codebook
• Appendix J - Spring 2017 Center/Program Codebook
• Appendix K - Spring 2017 Classroom/Teacher Codebook
• Appendix L - Descriptions of Constructed/Derived Variables
• Appendix M - Synthetic Estimation for Child Growth Across Two Years

The 2017 Child Care Licensing Study provides information collected about child care licensing programs and policies and the facility requirements for child care centers, family child care homes, and group child care homes for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Limited center regulations data are available for U.S. territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

The data about state licensing policies, including facility monitoring, enforcement of licensing regulations, and licensing program staff, were gathered by the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) in the 2017 NARA Child Care Licensing Programs and Policies Survey. NARA sent an online survey to all state child care licensing agencies in March 2018. Respondents submitted their answers via Survey Monkey, and by January 2019, all states had responded.

The data from the Licensing Survey cover the following topical areas:

• Number of licensed facilities
• Complaint investigations
• Licensing staff
• Enforcement actions
• Types of inspections
• Licensing information on the Internet
• Frequency of inspections
• Licensing fees
• Frequency of licensing
• Licensing staff requirements
• Inspections and monitoring
• Licensing's role in quality initiatives

The data about licensing requirements for child care centers, family child care homes, and group child care homes were collected by the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance from the regulations posted on the National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations that were in effect as of December 31, 2017. The licensing regulations data cover the following areas:

• Licensing regulations
• Additional staff training requirements
• Definition of licensed child care centers
• Child-staff ratios and group size
• Staff roles and age requirements
• Supervision of children
• Staff qualifications and ongoing training requirements
• Care of children
• Facility requirements and
• Staff hiring requirements

The same web site was used to collect licensing regulations covering the above listed topics for small family child care homes and large/group family child care homes.

The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is an ongoing national longitudinal study of the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of Head Start children. It examines the characteristics, well-being, and accomplishments of families, the observed quality of Head Start classrooms, and the characteristics and opinions of Head Start teachers and other program staff. FACES was designed to address four central questions related to program performance objectives:

1. Does Head Start enhance children's development and school readiness?
2. Does Head Start strengthen families as the primary nurturers of their children?
3. Does head Start provide children with high quality educational, health, and nutritional services?
4. How is classroom quality related to child outcomes?

The FACES 2003 Cohort involved a nationally representative sample of children and families in Head Start programs in the United States who were studied at entry into the program in the fall of 2003, assessed at the completion of their program experience, and followed up at the end of their kindergarten year. The FACES 2003 battery has five main components: the child assessment, parent interview, teacher and staff interviews, classroom observations and teacher-child reports.

1. The child assessments included the major components of school readiness, and were collected through direct child assessments and rating scales completed by parents and teachers. Some of the direct child assessments included the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Third Edition-Revised (PPVT-III), Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised, McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, story and print concepts, social awareness, color names and one-to-one counting and assessor ratings.

2. The parent interview was designed to provide Head Start with a comprehensive understanding of the families that they serve, including the characteristics of households and household members, levels and types of participation in the program and in other community services, involvement with their children, and an understanding of their children's development. In addition to this, parents were asked to rate each child on a set of behaviors that assessed the child's basic social skills and behavior problems.

3. The teacher and staff interview was designed to provide information on Head Start personnel experience, education, and training as well as knowledge and beliefs about child development, and educational activities with children and parents.

4. The classroom observations were designed to measure peer interactions, friendships of children, and the extent to which Head Start programs employed skilled teachers and provided developmentally appropriate environments and curricula for their children. Some of the assessments used included the Assessment Profile, Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), classroom observation of teacher-directed activities, and the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale.

5. The teacher-child report was designed to capture important sources of information about children's learning and behavior through the use of the Teacher-Child Report (TCR), social skills ratings, the Behavior Problems scale and the Preschool Learning Behavior Scale (PLBS).

The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is an ongoing national longitudinal study of the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of Head Start children. It examines the characteristics, well-being, and accomplishments of families, the observed quality of Head Start classrooms, and the characteristics and opinions of Head Start teachers and other program staff. FACES was designed to address four central questions related to program performance objectives:

1. Does Head Start enhance children's development and school readiness?
2. Does Head Start strengthen families as the primary nurturers of their children?
3. Does Head Start provide children with high quality educational, health, and nutritional services?
4. How is classroom quality related to child outcomes?

The FACES 1997 Cohort involved a nationally representative sample of children and families in Head Start programs in the United States who were studied at entry into the program in the fall of 1997, assessed in the spring at the completion of one or two years of Head Start, and followed up in the spring of the kindergarten and first grade years. During these visits, the research team completed individual interviews with staff and parents, child and classroom observations, direct child assessments through one-on-one interviews, and indirect assessments of children by their teachers and parents.

The data collection instruments used in FACES were designed to measure several different types of skills, accomplishments, and behaviors that are relevant to a child's school readiness and social competence:

1. The parent interview was designed to collect up-to-date information about current Head Start families while being sensitive to differences based on the background of the respondents. The interview provided descriptive information about the parents (education, work status, health, nativity, depression, social support, use of discipline and rules, exposure to violence), the household (income, housing, activities with children, use of child care), and the children (gender, ethnicity, health, behavior, literacy skills, disabilities, exposure to violence). Additionally, parents reported how their families came to Head Start and how they perceived their Head Start experiences.
2. The staff interview was designed to provide a profile of the background, qualifications, and training of Head start personnel as well as an understanding of classroom activities, family activities, services, local programs offered to families, and staff perspectives on their programs and the families they served.
3. The child and classroom observations were designed to record information from the observations of children's behavior and home environments. Some of the assessments used included Peabody Picture Vocabulary Tests (PPVTs), Woodcock-Johnson Revised Tests of Achievement, Norm Referenced Cognitive Tests, Story and Print Concepts, and McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities.

The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is an ongoing national longitudinal study of the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development of Head Start children. It examines the characteristics, well-being, and accomplishments of families, the observed quality of Head Start classrooms, and the characteristics and opinions of Head Start teachers and other program staff. FACES was designed to address four central questions related to program performance objectives:

1. Does Head Start enhance children's development and school readiness?
2. Does Head Start strengthen families as the primary nurturers of their children?
3. Does head Start provide children with high quality educational, health, and nutritional services?
4. How is classroom quality related to child outcomes?

The FACES 2000 Cohort involved a nationally representative sample of children and families in Head Start programs in the United States who were studied at entry into the program in the fall of 2000, assessed at the completion of one or two years of program experience, and followed up in the spring of the kindergarten year. The FACES 2000-2003 battery has four main components: the child assessment, parent interview, teacher and staff interviews, and classroom observations.

1. The child assessments included the major components of school readiness, and were collected through direct child assessments and rating scales completed by parents and teachers. Direct child assessments included the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Third Edition-Revised (PPVT-III), Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery-Revised, McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, story and print concepts, social awareness, color names and one-to-one counting, Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised, interview ratings, and follow-up Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K) measures.

2. The parent interview was designed to provide Head Start with a comprehensive understanding of the families that they serve, including the characteristics of households and household members, levels and types of participation in the program and in other community services, involvement with their children, and an understanding of their children's development. In addition to this, parents were asked to rate each child on a set of behaviors that assessed the child's basic social skills and behavior problems.

3. The teacher and staff interview was designed to provide information on Head Start personnel experience, education, and training as well as knowledge and beliefs about child development, and educational activities with children and parents.

4. The classroom observations were designed to measure peer interactions, friendships of children, and the extent to which Head Start programs employed skilled teachers and provided developmentally appropriate environments and curricula for their children. Some of the assessments used included the Assessment Profile, Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), classroom observation of teacher-directed activities, and the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale.

The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is a periodic, ongoing longitudinal study of program performance. Successive nationally representative samples of Head Start children, their families, classrooms, and programs provide descriptive information on the population of children and families served; staff qualifications, credentials, and opinions; Head Start classroom practices and quality measures; and child and family outcomes. FACES includes a battery of child assessments across multiple developmental domains (cognitive, social, emotional, and physical). FACES 2009 is the latest FACES cohort study and followed children from Head Start entry in fall 2009 through one or two years of program participation and to kindergarten.

For nearly a decade, the Office of Head Start, the Administration for Children and Families, other federal agencies, local programs, and the public have depended on FACES for valid and reliable national information on (1) the skills and abilities of Head Start children, (2) how Head Start children's skills and abilities compare with preschool children nationally, (3) Head Start children's readiness for and subsequent performance in kindergarten, and (4) the characteristics of the children's home and classroom environments. The FACES study is designed to enable researchers to answer a wide range of research questions that are crucial for aiding program managers and policymakers. Some of the questions that are central to FACES include:

1. What are the demographic characteristics of the population of children and families served by Head Start? How has the population served by Head Start changed?
2. What are the experiences of families and children in the Head Start program? How have they changed?
3. What are the cognitive and social skills of Head Start children at the beginning and end of their first year in the program? Has Head Start program performance improved over time?
4. Do the gains in cognitive and social skills that Head Start children achieve carry over into kindergarten? Do larger gains (or greater declines in problem behavior) translate into higher achievement at the end of kindergarten?
5. What are the qualifications of Head Start teachers in terms of education, experience, and credentials? Are average teacher education levels rising in Head Start?
6. What is the observed quality of Head Start classrooms as early learning environments, including the level and range of teaching and interactions, provisions for learning, emotional and instructional support, and classroom organization? How has quality changed over time? What program- and classroom-level factors are related to observed classroom quality? How is observed quality related to children's outcomes and developmental gains?

In response to recent trends and mandates, FACES 2009 expanded the information collected on families and children who speak a primary language other than English and the information collected on children who are homeless. Earlier cohorts of FACES gathered information on the languages spoken in the home and used for classroom instruction. Given the growth in the population of Hispanic/Latino preschoolers (Hernandez 2006), FACES 2009 placed additional emphasis on Dual Language Learners (DLLs). In addition, given the 2007 Head Start Act's focus on children and families who are homeless, FACES 2009 expanded coverage on the enrollment of such children, how the program ensures that they enroll in Head Start, and the special services available to such children and their families.

FACES 2009 carefully balanced the need for consistent measurement of outcomes against the need for improvements in instrumentation and techniques. In some instances, new instruments were added to obtain more comprehensive information on Head Start children. For example, the Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test was added to assess children's expressive language, which is related to later reading achievement even more so than receptive language (National Early Literacy Panel 2008). A measure of phonemic awareness from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) preschool wave was also added to assess children's knowledge of beginning and ending sounds in words. Further, FACES 2009 included a direct assessment of executive functioning-a pencil tapping task to examine children's inhibitory control, working memory, and attention-which has been shown to relate to young children's development in mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy (Blair and Razza 2007; Espy et al. 2004; McClelland et al. 2007).

The User Guide provides detailed information about the FACES 2009 study design, execution, and data to inform and assist researchers who may be interested in using the data for future analyses. The following items are provided in the User Guide as appendices.

• Appendix A - Copyright statements
• Appendix B - Instrument Content Matrices
• Appendix C - Questionnaires
• Appendix D - Center/Program Codebook
• Appendix E - Classroom/Teacher Codebook
• Appendix F - Child Codebook
• Appendix G - Description of Constructed/Derived Variables

The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) is a periodic, ongoing longitudinal study of program performance. Successive nationally representative samples of Head Start children, their families, classrooms, and programs provide descriptive information on the population of children and families served; staff qualifications, credentials, and opinions; Head Start classroom practices and quality measures; and child and family outcomes. FACES includes a battery of child assessments across multiple developmental domains (cognitive, social, emotional, and physical).

For nearly a decade, the Office of Head Start, the Administration for Children and Families, other federal agencies, local programs, and the public have depended on FACES for valid and reliable national information on (1) the skills and abilities of Head Start children, (2) how Head Start children's skills and abilities compare with preschool children nationally, (3) Head Start children's readiness for and subsequent performance in kindergarten, and (4) the characteristics of the children's home and classroom environments. The FACES study is designed to enable researchers to answer a wide range of research questions that are crucial for aiding program managers and policymakers. Some of the questions that are central to FACES include:

1. What are the demographic characteristics of the population of children and families served by Head Start? How has the population served by Head Start changed?
2. What are the experiences of families and children in the Head Start program? How have they changed?
3. What are the cognitive and social skills of Head Start children at the beginning and end of their first year in the program? Has Head Start program performance improved over time?
4. Do the gains in cognitive and social skills that Head Start children achieve carry over into kindergarten? Do larger gains (or greater declines in problem behavior) translate into higher achievement at the end of kindergarten?
5. What are the qualifications of Head Start teachers in terms of education, experience, and credentials? Are average teacher education levels rising in Head Start?
6. What is the observed quality of Head Start classrooms as early learning environments, including the level and range of teaching and interactions, provisions for learning, emotional and instructional support, and classroom organization? How has quality changed over time? What program- and classroom-level factors are related to observed classroom quality? How is observed quality related to children's outcomes and developmental gains?

FACES also supports analyses of subgroups of interest, such as children with disabilities, dual language learners, and children who are performing above or below average on standardized assessments. Its design changes in response to emerging policy and research questions. For example, in response to the growing concern about childhood obesity, measures of children's height and weight were introduced in FACES 2006.

Measures for FACES 2006 were selected to balance the need to support comparisons to previous cohorts of FACES (particularly with respect to program performance measures) against the need to update the measurement battery and address emerging policy issues and benefits from progress in the assessment field. Many of the measures used in FACES 2006 were included in previous cohorts and they are presented below by the five major measurement sources in FACES: (1) child direct assessments; (2) parent interviews; (3) teacher interviews and survey; (4) classroom observations; and (5) program director, center director, and education coordinator interviews.

1. The child direct assessments included the major components of school readiness. They included a language screener, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition/Test de Vocabulario de Imagines Peabody, subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement Third Edition/Bateria III Woodcock-Munoz (letter word identification, applied problems, spelling, and word attack), a measure of early math literacy based on items from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth and Kindergarten Cohorts math assessments (geometry, patterns, and measurement), story and print concepts, and physical measurements (height and weight). At the end of the direct child assessment, interviewers rate the child's attention, organization/impulse control, activity level, and sociability using items from the Leiter-R scales.
2. The parent interview was designed to provide Head Start with a comprehensive understanding of the families that they serve, including the demographic characteristics of households and household members, parent-child relationships and the quality of the child's home life, and parent ratings of the child's behavior problems, social skills, and competencies, levels and types of participation in the program and in other community services.
3. The Head Start teacher interview was designed to collect information about classroom and teacher characteristics related to the quality of care provided by Head Start programs. Teachers were asked about their classroom activities and use of curricula, as well as their demographic and educational background and professional experience. They also used a Web survey to rate the social skills, problem behaviors, and competencies of each FACES child in their classroom. Kindergarten teachers provided information about schools attended by Head Start children, their classrooms and school experiences using a Web survey. They also completed ratings of each FACES child's social skills, behavior problems and competencies.
4. The classroom observations were designed to measure peer interactions and the extent to which Head Start programs employed skilled teachers and provided developmentally appropriate environments and curricula for their children. The measures used included the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), the Arnett Scale of Lead Teacher Behavior, and the Instructional Support scale from the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Counts of children and adults were also taken to calculate group size and child-adult ratios.
5. The Program Director, Center Director, and Education Coordinator Interviews gathered information about staffing and recruitment, teacher education initiatives and training, waiting lists and program expansion, classroom activities, curriculum, overview of program management, and parent involvement.

The User Guide provides detailed information about the FACES 2006 study design, execution, and data to inform and assist researchers who may be interested in using the data for future analyses. The following items are provided in the User Guide as appendices.

• Appendix A -- Copyright Statements
• Appendix B -- Instrument Content Matrices
• Appendix C -- Questionnaires
• Appendix D -- Center/Program Codebook
• Appendix E -- Classroom/Teacher Codebook
• Appendix F -- Child Codebook
• Appendix G -- Description of Constructed/Derived Variables

The 2014 Child Care Licensing Study provides information collected about child care licensing programs and policies and the regulations for childcare centers, family child care homes, and group child care homes for all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the two U.S. Territories (Guam and the Virgin Islands). The data about States and Territories' licensing policies, including facility monitoring, enforcement of licensing regulations, and licensing program staffing, were gathered by the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) in the 2014 NARA Child Care Licensing Programs and Policies Survey. NARA sent an online survey to all state child care licensing agencies in September 2014. Respondents submitted their answers via the Internet, and by January 2015, all States had responded.

The data from the Licensing Survey cover the following topical areas:

• Number of licensed facilities
• Complaint investigations
• Licensing staff
• Enforcement actions
• Types of inspections
• Licensing information on the Internet
• Frequency of inspections
• Licensing fees
• Frequency of licensing
• Licensing staff requirements
• Inspections and monitoring
• Licensing's role in quality initiatives

The child care center licensing regulations used for this study were compiled by the National Center for Early Childhood Quality Assurance from the regulations posted on the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education (NRC) website between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2014. That site is no longer active but directs users to the National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations. The licensing regulations data cover the following areas:

• Licensing regulations
• Additional staff training requirements
• Definition of licensed child care centers
• Child-staff ratios and group size
• Staff roles and age requirements
• Supervision of children
• Staff qualifications and ongoing training requirements
• Care of children
• Facility requirements and
• Staff hiring requirements

The same web site was used to collect licensing regulations covering the above listed topics for small family child care homes and large/group family child care homes.

The purpose of the 2011 Child Care Licensing Study is to report two aspects of child care licensing from 2011 for all 50 states and the District of Columbia (not including Idaho): (1) state child care licensing programs and policies and (2) child care center and family child care home licensing regulations. The study focuses on the processes and policies in each state related to staffing for the licensing program, monitoring facilities, and enforcement of licensing regulations.

To collect information on states' licensing policies, including staffing, monitoring, and enforcement of licensing regulations, the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) disseminated the 2011 NARA Child Care Licensing Program Survey to all state child care licensing agencies in May 2012. Responses were received from all states. The survey focused on the processes and policies in each state related to staffing for the licensing program, monitoring facilities, and enforcement of licensing regulations. The data cover the following topical areas:

• Number of licensed facilities
• Complaint investigations
• Licensing staff
• Enforcement actions
• Types of inspections
• Licensing information on the Internet
• Frequency of inspections
• Licensing fees
• Frequency of licensing
• Licensing staff requirements
• Inspections and monitoring and
• Licensing's role in quality initiatives

The child care center licensing regulations used for this study are those that were posted on the National Resources Center for Health and Safety in Child Care (NRC) Web site. The data cover the following areas:

• Licensing regulations
• Additional staff training requirements
• Definition of licensed child care centers
• Child-staff ratios and group size
• Staff roles and age requirements
• Supervision of children
• Staff qualifications and ongoing training requirements
• Care of children
• Facility requirements and
• Staff hiring requirements

The same Web site was used to collect licensing regulations covering the above listed topics for small family child care homes and large/group family child care homes. More information on the study is located at the National Association for Regulatory Administration's Web site.

The purpose of the 2008 Child Care Licensing Study is to report two aspects of child care licensing from 2008 for all 50 states and the District of Columbia (not including Idaho): (1) state child care licensing programs and policies and (2) child care center and family child care home licensing regulations. The study focuses on the processes and policies in each state related to staffing for the licensing program, monitoring facilities, and enforcement of licensing regulations.

To collect information on states' licensing policies, including staffing, monitoring, and enforcement of licensing regulations, the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) disseminated the 2008 NARA Child Care Licensing Program Survey to all state child care licensing agencies in May 2009. Responses were received from all states. The survey focused on the processes and policies in each state related to staffing for the licensing program, monitoring facilities, and enforcement of licensing regulations. The data cover the following topical areas:

• Number of licensed facilities
• Complaint investigations
• Licensing staff
• Enforcement actions
• Types of inspections
• Licensing information on the Internet
• Frequency of inspections
• Licensing fees
• Frequency of licensing
• Licensing staff requirements
• Inspections and monitoring and
• Licensing's role in quality initiatives

The child care center licensing regulations used for this study are those that were posted on the National Resources Center for Health and Safety in Child Care (NRC) Web site. The data cover the following areas:

• Licensing regulations
• Additional staff training requirements
• Definition of licensed child care centers
• Child-staff ratios and group size
• Staff roles and age requirements
• Supervision of children
• Staff qualifications and ongoing training requirements
• Care of children
• Facility requirements and
• Staff hiring requirements

The same Web site was used to collect licensing regulations covering the above listed topics for small family child care homes and large/group family child care homes. More information on the study is located at the National Association for Regulatory Administration's Web site.

The purpose of the 2007 Child Care Licensing Study is to report four aspects of child care licensing from 2007 for all 50 states and the District of Columbia: (1) state child care licensing programs and policies, (2) child care center licensing regulations, (3) small family child care home licensing regulations, and (4) large/group family child care home licensing regulations.

To collect information on states' licensing policies, including staffing, monitoring, and enforcement of licensing regulations, the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) disseminated the 2007 NARA Child Care Licensing Program Survey to all state child care licensing agencies in July 2007. Responses were received from all states. The survey focused on the processes and policies in each state related to staffing for the licensing program, monitoring facilities, and enforcement of licensing regulations. The data cover the following topical areas:

• Number of licensed facilities
• Complaint investigations
• Licensing staff
• Enforcement actions
• Types of inspections
• Licensing information on the Internet
• Frequency of inspections
• Licensing fees
• Frequency of licensing
• Licensing staff requirements
• Inspections and monitoring and
• Licensing's role in quality initiatives

The child care center licensing regulations used for this study are those that were posted on the National Resources Center for Health and Safety in Child Care (NRC) Web site between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2007. The data covers the following areas:

• Licensing regulations
• Additional staff training requirements
• Definition of licensed child care centers
• Child-staff ratios and group size
• Staff roles and age requirements
• Supervision of children
• Staff qualifications and ongoing training requirements
• Care of children
• Facility requirements and
• Staff hiring requirements

The same Web site was used to collect licensing regulations covering the above listed topics for small family child care homes and large/group family child care homes. More information on the study is located at the National Association for Regulatory Administration Web site.

The purpose of the 2005 Child Care Licensing Study was to report two aspects of child care licensing from 2005 for all 50 states and the District of Columbia: (1) state child care licensing programs and policies, and (2) child care center licensing regulations.

To collect information on states' licensing policies, including staffing, monitoring, and enforcement of licensing regulations, the National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) disseminated the 2005 NARA Child Care Licensing Program Survey to all state child care licensing agencies in February 2005. Responses were received from all states. The survey focuses on the processes and policies in each state related to staffing for the licensing program, monitoring facilities, and enforcement of licensing regulations. The data cover the following topic areas:

• Number of licensed facilities
• Complaint investigations
• Licensing staff
• Enforcement actions
• Types of inspections
• Licensing information on the Internet
• Frequency of inspections
• Licensing fees
• Frequency of licensing
• Licensing staff requirements
• Inspections and monitoring
• The role of licensing in quality initiatives

Data on child care center licensing regulations were compiled from the regulations posted on the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education Web site (http://nrc.uchsc.edu/STATES/states.htm) between January 1 and December 31, 2005. The data cover the following areas:

• Licensing regulations
• Additional staff training requirements
• Definition of licensed child care centers
• Child-staff ratios and group size
• Staff roles and age requirements
• Supervision of children
• Staff qualifications and ongoing training requirements
• Care of children
• Facility requirements
• Staff hiring requirements

More information on the study is located on the National Association for Regulatory Administration Web site.