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

Better Beginnings is Arkansas's quality rating and improvement system, run by the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) in the Arkansas Department of Education, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education — the LEARNS Act (Act 237 of 2023) moved child care licensing there from the Department of Human Services.

The system is a building-block model: a program must meet all requirements of one level before moving up, and the current provider rule book, dated 01/01/23, describes levels one through six.

Participation is required for providers that receive CCDBG child care funding, at the level OEC sets.

One caution when you read older material: some pages on the Better Beginnings website still offer star-kit downloads, while the rule book in force describes levels one through six.

Better Beginnings runs from level one to level six, and each level is a building block: a program must meet all requirements of one level before moving up.

For centers, the rule book's criteria include an Environment Rating Scale (ERS) average that rises with the rating: 3.00 at Level 2, 4.00 at Level 3, 5.00 at Level 4, 5.50 at Level 5 and 6.00 at Level 6.

Levels 4 through 6 also require tighter ratios than licensing does — the rule book's Level 6 examples include infants (birth–18 months) at 1:4 and 4-year-olds at 1:10.

Our research documents criteria from Level 2 upward, so confirm the Level 1 entry criteria with Better Beginnings.

Staff credentials and training enter the rating through one of Better Beginnings' four component areas: Administration; Staff Qualifications and Professional Development; Learning Environment/Environment Assessment; and Child Health and Development.

The staff criterion our research documents sits at Level 2: all directors and at least 50% of teaching staff must complete Early Learning Standards (ELS) Basics training and an ERS training.

The rule book's staff-qualification criteria for Levels 3 through 6 were not extracted in our research, so this page lists no credentials or point totals beyond Level 2 — get the current criteria tables from Better Beginnings before you build a training plan.

Better Beginnings center levels use the Program Administration Scale (PAS) and the Environment Rating Scales (ERS), with the ERS average rising level by level from 3.00 at Level 2 to 6.00 at Level 6.

Both instruments also appear in required training: the Level 2 criteria include an ERS training for all directors and at least 50% of teaching staff, and Arkansas licensing requires new directors and assistant directors to attend New Directors Orientation plus PAS and ERS training within six months of employment.

Confirm current score requirements and assessment scheduling with Better Beginnings before you plan around a number.

The incentives our research documents are tax credits.

Taxpayers using facilities certified at Better Beginnings Level 2 or above can claim an enhanced state child care credit of 20% of the federal credit.

Qualifying businesses can also claim an income tax credit of 3.9% of the annual salary of employees employed exclusively in providing child care services — a credit that goes to the business, not to staff as a bonus, and one our research does not tie to a rating level.

Our research did not confirm incentive or bonus amounts by level and found no staff-side payment schedule; ask Better Beginnings or OEC what supports currently reach centers and staff at higher ratings.

Better Beginnings is a building-block system, so preparation runs level by level: confirm the level your program holds, then work through every requirement of the next level, because a program must meet all of one level's requirements before moving up.

The levers our research documents are ERS scores, which rise from a 3.00 average at Level 2 to 6.00 at Level 6; staff training, starting with ELS Basics and an ERS training for all directors and at least 50% of teaching staff at Level 2; and, from Level 4 upward, staffing to tighter ratios than licensing requires.

New Arkansas directors also attend New Directors Orientation plus PAS and ERS training within six months of employment under licensing, so the rating's tools reach a director early.

Get the current criteria tables from Better Beginnings or OEC before you commit a staffing or training budget.

Arkansas ties its center workforce to the Professional Development Registry: center directors, site supervisors and direct-care staff must register with it within 30 days of hire.

Our research did not confirm how registry status scores inside Better Beginnings' Staff Qualifications and Professional Development component, so treat the registry as your baseline professional-development record and ask Better Beginnings what role it plays at each rating level.