Oklahoma Child Care Oversight Ranked Third in Nation

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- Oklahoma is ranked third in the nation for providing quality child care oversight in child care centers according to a report card issued by the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA).
Oklahoma is ranked sixth overall, and is the only state in the region to receive a top 10 ranking.

Oklahoma’s oversight system, which includes its licensing requirements, is ranked third in the nation, behind only the U.S. Department of Defense and the state of Florida.

“The credit for this achievement should go our highly dedicated staff, OKDHS Director Howard Hendrick, the Child Care Advisory Committee and all those past and present who have worked so hard to improve the quality of care in Oklahoma,” said Mark Lewis, director, OKDHS Division of Child Care. “Since child care standards and oversight vary widely from state to state, we are pleased to learn that we are among national leaders in this area.”

NACCRRA, a child care advocacy group, works with child care resource and referral agencies in each state to help ensure access to quality child care and to improve child care standards across the country.

The organization compiled its rankings by scoring the standards and oversight criteria for child care centers used by each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Department of Defense. These benchmarks were developed based on available research within the field and by consultation with key researchers, according to the NACCRRA.

The report card reveals that among Oklahoma’s regional neighbors, Arkansas was ranked 42nd overall, Colorado ranked 40th, Kansas received a 47th ranking, Louisiana was ranked 51st, New Mexico received a ranking of 45th and Texas was ranked 12th.

“Our focus is for all Oklahoma families to have access to child care in a safe, educational and a nurturing environment,” said Lewis. “We are very proud of this national ranking; however, we will continue to strive to improve the overall quality of care in the state.”

Lewis said a number of state partners contributed toward the achievement, including the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness, other state agencies, tribal governments, the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Early Childhood Professional Development, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, the Oklahoma Child Care Resource and Referral Agency and Oklahoma CareerTech.

For more information, visit NACCRRA’s Web site at http://www.naccrra.org/.

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