DECAL is partnering with Child Trends on a statewide study of Georgia’s child care and early education programs. The purpose of the study is to better understand the quality of licensed programs across the state. Results of the study will be available in the spring of 2027. DECAL will use the study results to inform resource planning and revisions to our Quality Rated program. (Read more)

Examining Quality in Georgia’s Child Care Centers Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Child Trends partnered with DECAL to examine potential effects of the pandemic on classroom quality as captured in classroom observations for Quality Rated, Georgia’s quality rating and improvement system. DECAL paused in-person classroom observations in March 2020 and resumed them in July 2022. This brief summarizes comparisons of ECERS-3 and ITERS-3 observations conducted as part of the rating process before and after the COVID-19 pause. It includes only classrooms serving infants/toddlers and children ages 3 to 5 in center-based programs taking part in Quality Rated. Average overall scores on both rating scales decreased slightly following the COVID-19 shutdown when comparing 2018-2019 to 2022 data.

In 2008-2009 nationally renowned researchers from the FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted a statewide, representative study of quality across licensed child care centers and Georgia’s Pre-K programs. The findings reported in the Georgia Study of Early Care and Education provide scientific evidence for where further investments are needed while validating DECAL’s current initiatives designed to improve quality in all early learning environments.

The findings from the study are divided into three reports: Child Care Center Findings, Findings from Georgia’s Pre-K Program, and Family Child Care Learning Home Findings. Full copies of the reports and the executive summaries are available below. In addition, DECAL has developed a presentation and a summary of the study that details the findings and the department’s various initiatives to improve quality.

Direct questions about these quality studies to Dr. Bentley Ponder at BFTSResearch@decal.ga.gov.