America’s lack of affordable child care has brought a long-simmering question to a boil: What exactly makes child care “good”?

Everyone wants quality care for kids, and the need for child care or preschool to be considered “high quality” has been embraced by researchers, providers, parents, and policymakers for years. But with rising costs and uneven availability, parents, providers, and policymakers find themselves increasingly divided over whether “quality” should be measured by caregivers’ credentials or by toddlers’ happiness, by structured learning outcomes, or by parent preference.

Progressives generally champion credentialed and well-paid teachers, academic standards, and standardized ratings as essential for aiding children’s development. Conservatives counter that such requirements inflate costs while devaluing the nurturing care that parents and community caregivers provide.

The answer to the question of what “quality” means shapes everything from household budgets to workforce participation to children’s school readiness — yet there is no clear consensus on what exactly that entails or how to measure it.

“People know it when they see it, but it’s hard to define,” said Josh McCabe, director of social policy at the Niskanen Center think tank.

As regulations shift with political winds, the question has become more salient: Who defines quality, and at what cost to kids, families, and society?

Mixed-quality quality metrics

States have sought ways to measure, improve, and communicate the components of quality to parents and providers alike. Their solution: developing rating systems that attempt to boil aspects of child care settings down into simple metrics, much like hotel or restaurant reviews.

Over the past two decades, such Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) have become the primary method for assessing child care quality. These systems, which vary significantly across states, award ratings based on multiple dimensions, including teacher qualifications (such as holding a child development associate credential or a degree in early childhood education); learning environments (including safe teacher-to-child ratios, classroom cleanliness, and availability of age-appropriate books and toys); administrative practices (like documented emergency procedures and business management systems), and the caliber of child-adult interactions (measured through classroom observations).

By 2020, nearly all states had implemented some form of QRIS, though participation remains voluntary in many areas. These systems vary widely — some use star ratings (one to five stars), others use tiers or categories. States prioritize different elements: Some emphasize school readiness, others focus on health and safety, cultural responsiveness, or infant and toddler care. Financial incentives also differ, with states offering a variety of supports, technical assistance, and bonuses for higher scores.

The evidence is mixed, though, on whether these ratings actually predict better outcomes for children. “If we’re looking at what supports children’s well-being and development, it’s the quality of the interactions, the relations with the caregiver,” Steven Barnett, senior director of the National Institute for Early Education........

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