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Child Care Licensing in North Carolina has been regulated by state statute since 1971. The current system uses a 5-star rating system that awards points based on programming quality. The more points, the higher the rating and thus, the more 'stars' issued. If someone is providing child care of more than two children who are not related to them for more than four hours per day, the provider needs to be licensed by the State. ==History== While all states have some regulations for center-based care, the rules differ and may span from simple health-related standards to more comprehensive rating systems that factor in child development and early childhood education guidelines. North Carolina's early regulatory attempts for Day care licenses were confusing to parents and difficult to navigate. The state had a two-tier system that listed centers who met minimum requirements as a level "A" provider.〔 This was confusing to parents who believed that an "A" rating was the highest category available. In 1999, the state moved to the star system citing better clarification for parents and specific standards providers could strive to obtain.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Star Rated License Overview )〕 The newer star ratings were also meant to help recognize providers for their level of care. One star is the lowest rating while five stars is the highest. The system mandates both family centers (also called home child care) and child care centers located in commercial spaces. According to North Carolina statute: *Family or home child care can have a maximum of five preschool children in care and may reach the maximum of eight if three of those children are school-aged.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Providers Page )〕 *Child Care Centers provide for more than five preschool children and will be limited to a maximum based on total square footage of the center (indoor and outdoor) as well as sanitation, fire and possible zoning regulations that may be area-specific.〔 Before switching regulatory guidelines in 1999, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute/University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (FPG/UNC)was commissioned to evaluate whether the newly adopted star system would effectively mirror child care center quality. The team collected data from over 200 randomly selected child care centers across the state (not family care centers) just months before the new rules went into effect. The data collected was based on interviews from child care center directors and direct observations of child development practices based on Environment Ratings Scales (ERS).〔 These scales were developed in 1980 by the FPG/UNC, improved by data over the years and now are considered a national standard.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=A Brief History of the Environment Rating Scales )〕 These standards included daily routines and activities as well as materials used in the classroom, interactions between teachers and students and the education and wages of teachers. The group then revisited the sample centers after the new star licensing rules took effect. Of the more than 200 centers originally included in the 1999 data collection, 84 child care centers had received the new star ratings by December 2000. Of these 84, the ERS measurements designated in 1999 were directly related to the star rating granted by the State of North Carolina in 2000. Therefore, early evidence showed that the new star rating system directly correlated to quality of child care.〔 Since implementation, studies of the licensing program have been commissioned by North Carolina to evaluate the success of the program. National child care-related organizations such as the National Association of Child Care Research and Referral Agencies also provide reports cards on regulatory measures for North Carolina and other states. Concluding 2012, there were a total of 7646 licensed centers in North Carolina providing care to 251,798 children.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NC Child Care Snapshot )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Child care licensing in North Carolina」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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