Alabama's Childcare Quality Rating System: What It Means for Directors and Staff

Alabama's quality rating and improvement system is Alabama Quality STARS, a partnership between the Alabama Department of Human Resources and the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education.

The system has five STAR levels, and STAR 1 marks a program that meets DHR's licensing standards.

Participation runs through an application: a licensed program applies to work with Alabama Quality STARS, and it must have been licensed for at least one year before it can apply for a STAR 2 rating or above.

The licensing rules touch the system too: by August 1, 2022, Alabama center directors had to complete an orientation on the assessment tools the Department's Quality Rating and Improvement System uses.

The five levels run from STAR 1 to STAR 5.

STAR 1 is the base level, meaning a program that meets DHR's licensing standards.

From STAR 2 up, a rating combines points on the program's Best Practice Rubric with CLASS observations: STAR 2 asks for 40 BPR points with CLASS results informational only, STAR 3 for a minimum of 80 BPR points and 30 CLASS points, STAR 4 for 95 BPR points and 40 CLASS points, and STAR 5 for 110 BPR points and 50 CLASS points.

Those thresholds come from the June 2026 revision of the Alabama Quality STARS guidelines.

Credentials sit inside the rubric itself.

Professional Credential is one of six domains on the Best Practice Rubric; the others include curriculum and instruction, screening and assessment, family engagement, and environment and program design.

Our research did not extract the point value of any specific credential, so a director or teacher who wants to know what a particular credential earns toward a rating should ask Alabama Quality STARS or check its assessment criteria pages.

Outside the rating system, DHR contracts with agencies statewide to provide pre-service and annual training, including help earning the CDA credential and national accreditation.

Two instruments drive a rating: the Best Practice Rubric, which is organized into the six domains described above, and CLASS observations.

CLASS results are informational only at STAR 2 and carry minimum scores from STAR 3 upward.

Directors meet these tools through their licensing training as well: Alabama's rule requires center directors to complete an orientation on the assessment tools utilized by the Department's Quality Rating and Improvement System.

Alabama Quality STARS pays incentives to programs, and the schedule is built around facility data.

Eligibility runs to programs that have been open at least a year, an award depends on the facility type — center, family or group — the star level and the verified number of children enrolled, and centers need at least 10% of licensed capacity enrolled.

Updates to the QRIS took effect July 1, 2026.

The incentive matrix itself was not part of the material our research read, so this page does not quote dollar amounts, and we did not confirm a bonus paid to individual staff rather than to the program; ask Alabama Quality STARS for the current schedule.

Directors prepare from Alabama Quality STARS' published materials.

The June 2026 guidelines spell out each level's BPR and CLASS minimums, and the assessment criteria pages list the six rubric domains a program is scored on.

Two timing rules shape the calendar: a program must have been licensed at least one year before applying for a STAR 2 rating or above, and incentive eligibility requires a program to have been open at least a year, with centers at least 10% of licensed capacity enrolled.

Alabama's licensing rule already requires center directors to complete an orientation on the QRIS assessment tools, so the orientation itself is required director training.

Separate from the rating system, Alabama's licensing rules require all center staff — directors, teachers, aides, service staff and substitutes — to be enrolled in the Alabama Pathways Professional Development Registry, a requirement centers had to meet by August 1, 2022.

How registry participation factors into Quality STARS scoring was not established in our research, so a director who wants registry credit toward a rating should confirm with Alabama Quality STARS.