Validation Studies for Early Learning and Care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: A Review of the Literature

Prepared for the Delaware Office of Early Learning RAND working papers are intended to share researchers' latest findings and to solicit informal peer review. They have been approved for circulation by RAND Education but have not been formally edited or peer reviewed. Unless otherwise indicated, working papers can be quoted and cited without permission of the author, provided the source is clearly referred to as a working paper. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. is a registered trademark. Abstract As early care and education (ECE) quality rating and improvement systems (QRISs) have advanced and matured, a number of states and localities have undertaken evaluations to validate the systems. Such efforts stem from the desire to ensure that the system is designed and operating in the ways envisioned when the system was established. Given that a central component in a QRIS is the rating system, a key concern is whether the rating process, including the use of particular measures and the manner in which they are combined and cut scores are applied, produces accurate and understandable ratings that capture meaningful differences in program quality across rating levels. The aim of this paper is to review the set of studies that seek to validate QRIS rating systems in one of several ways: by examining the relationship between program ratings and objective measures of program quality; by determining if program ratings increase over time; and by estimating the relationship between program ratings and child developmental outcomes. Specifically, we review 14 such validation studies that address one or more of these three questions. Together, these 14 studies cover 12 QRISs in 11 states or substate areas: Colorado, In reviewing the literature, we are interested in the methods and measures they employ, as well as the empirical results. To date, most validation studies have found that programs with higher ratings had higher environment rating scores (ERSs), but the ERS is often one of the rating elements. Independent measures of quality have not always shown the expected positive relationship with quality. The handful of studies that have examined how ratings change over time have generally shown that programs participating in the QRIS did improve their quality or quality ratings. Studies that examine the relationship between QRIS ratings and child development are the most challenging to implement and can be costly to conduct when independent child assessments are performed. …