Delaware's Childcare Quality Rating System: What It Means for Directors and Staff
Delaware's childcare quality rating system is Delaware Stars for Early Success (DE Stars), which the state describes as a voluntary Quality Improvement System.
For FY27 it runs in revised form: the Department of Education's Office of Early Learning works with the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC), the system is organized around three Quality Indicators with Key Practices, and Quality Improvement Plans and Quality Improvement Awards sit at its center — an award budget must put at least 80% toward staff bonuses, salary increases and/or wage differentials.
Our research did not confirm a current star-level structure.
Verify before you rely on this
At a glance
Delaware Stars for Early Success (DE Stars), described by the state as a voluntary Quality Improvement System.
Delaware's Department of Education Office of Early Learning, with the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC).
Voluntary, as the state describes the system on My Child DE.
Not established in our research — ask DIEEC or the Office of Early Learning.
Not established in our research — ask DIEEC or the Office of Early Learning.
At least 80% of a FY27 Quality Improvement Award budget must go toward staff bonuses, salary increases and/or wage differentials.
What is Delaware's QRIS called, and is participation required?
Delaware's system is Delaware Stars for Early Success (DE Stars), the name the state still uses on My Child DE, where DE Stars is described as a voluntary Quality Improvement System.
For FY27 the state runs the system in a revised form: the Department of Education's Office of Early Learning works with the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC), and the revised Quality Improvement System is organized around three Quality Indicators with Key Practices.
The FY27 materials also build the system around Quality Improvement Plans and Quality Improvement Award (QIA) funds, which a program can apply for only after co-creating a Quality Improvement Plan with a DIEEC Quality Improvement Specialist.
Because the state describes participation as voluntary, joining is a choice a program's leadership makes; the sections below cover what the FY27 materials say participating involves.
“Delaware’s system is called Delaware Stars for Early Success (DE Stars).”
What are Delaware's rating levels?
This is the open question on Delaware's system.
The FY27 guide our research read describes the system through Quality Indicators, Key Practices, Quality Improvement Plans and Quality Improvement Award funding, and it does not set out a level structure; our research did not confirm whether DE Stars still carries a star-level structure, or how many levels or stars a program can hold today.
Because the system was revised for FY27, treat any level or star count you have seen for Delaware Stars as unconfirmed until DIEEC or the Office of Early Learning states the current structure.
Everything else on this page describes the FY27 materials, not a level scheme.
What staff credentials and training count toward a higher rating?
What the FY27 materials give the staff side is a credential expectation: Delaware expects at least 50% of educators who lack a CDA or higher to be actively working toward a CDA or higher, and family child care providers without a CDA must work toward obtaining one.
What the materials do not set out, in our research, is a level-by-level list of the credentials and training hours that earn credit.
That is also a different question from Delaware's licensing qualifications for teachers and directors, which this page does not restate.
Ask DIEEC how the credential expectation is measured for a specific program.
Which observation tool does Delaware's system use?
Which classroom observation tool the revised system uses, if any, is not established in our research.
The FY27 sources we read describe Quality Indicators, Key Practices, Quality Improvement Plans and Quality Improvement Award funds; none of them names an observation instrument or an assessment score a program must reach.
If you are scheduling staff time for observations or practice visits, ask DIEEC which instrument, if any, the revised system uses and how a visit is arranged.
What incentives come with higher ratings — for the center and for staff?
For programs, the incentive described in the FY27 materials our research read is Quality Improvement Award funds; our research did not establish whether Delaware also ties subsidy rates to participation.
A program applies for QIA funds only after co-creating a Quality Improvement Plan with a DIEEC Quality Improvement Specialist, and an award budget must put at least 80% toward staff bonuses, salary increases and/or wage differentials.
For individual educators, the same FY27 guide describes completion incentives Delaware pays after 6 months of continued employment in a licensed program: $1,000 for a CDA and $10,000 for an associate or bachelor's degree.
“At least 80% of the budget is used for bonuses, salary increases, and/or wage differentials.”
How do directors prepare for a rating?
Preparation, as the FY27 materials describe it, starts with the Quality Improvement Plan: a program co-creates its plan with a DIEEC Quality Improvement Specialist, and that plan is the prerequisite for applying for Quality Improvement Award funds.
Around the plan, the materials point a director to three workstreams — the three Quality Indicators and their Key Practices, an award budget that meets the 80% floor for staff bonuses, salary increases and/or wage differentials, and a credential pipeline in which at least 50% of educators who lack a CDA or higher are actively working toward one.
The details a director needs for a specific program — timelines, the application steps after the plan, and how progress is checked — should come from DIEEC rather than from this page.
What changed in Delaware's quality rating system for FY27?
The revised Quality Improvement System is itself the recent change.
The state still uses the Delaware Stars for Early Success name on My Child DE, and for FY27 the system runs through the Department of Education's Office of Early Learning and DIEEC as a revised QIS built on Quality Indicators, Key Practices, Quality Improvement Plans and Quality Improvement Awards.
Our research did not confirm how any earlier structure carried into the FY27 revision, so a program that participated before should ask DIEEC what the revision changed.
What This Page Does, and Doesn’t, Cover
This page summarizes the Delaware licensing rules, agency pages and other sources listed below, as read for this state-by-state quality rating system (QRIS) series, current as of October 2026. It is not a substitute for the instructions the Delaware Department of Education, Office of Early Learning (with the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood) publishes. For the rest of the picture in Delaware, see daycare director requirements in Delaware.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Delaware Stars required to run a childcare center in Delaware?
No. My Child DE describes Delaware Stars for Early Success as a voluntary Quality Improvement System, so joining is a choice a program makes, not a condition of operating.
Licensing is separate: Delaware centers are licensed by the Office of Child Care Licensing under 14 DE Admin.
Code 933.
Participation adds the quality improvement pathway described on this page — a plan co-created with DIEEC and access to Quality Improvement Award funds.
Does Delaware Stars still use star ratings?
Our research did not confirm a current star-level structure.
The state still uses the Delaware Stars for Early Success name, and the FY27 guide describes the system through Quality Indicators, Key Practices, Quality Improvement Plans and Quality Improvement Award funds without setting out levels.
Before you plan around a level or a star count, ask DIEEC or the Office of Early Learning what structure applies today.
How much Delaware Quality Improvement Award money goes to staff pay?
For FY27, at least 80% of a Quality Improvement Award budget must go toward staff bonuses, salary increases and/or wage differentials.
The award sits at the end of a sequence: a program first co-creates a Quality Improvement Plan with a DIEEC Quality Improvement Specialist, and that plan is the prerequisite for applying for QIA funds.
Does Delaware pay childcare staff to earn a CDA?
Delaware pays completion incentives under its FY27 educator supports: $1,000 for a CDA and $10,000 for an associate or bachelor's degree, each after 6 months of continued employment in a licensed program.
Separately, the FY27 Quality Improvement System expects at least 50% of educators who lack a CDA or higher to be actively working toward a CDA or higher.
Ask DIEEC which supports apply to a specific program's staff.
Who runs Delaware Stars?
For FY27, the revised Quality Improvement System is run by the Delaware Department of Education's Office of Early Learning together with the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC).
The state still uses the Delaware Stars for Early Success name, which appears on My Child DE.
In the FY27 materials, a DIEEC Quality Improvement Specialist co-creates the Quality Improvement Plan that precedes a Quality Improvement Award application.
More Delaware Resources
Sources
- Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood — Quality Improvement System: Quality Improvement Planning (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood — Program and Policy Guide for DE QIS for ECE Programs, FY27 (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- My Child DE — Quality (Delaware Stars for Early Success) (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Delaware Administrative Code — 14 DE Admin. Code 933, DELACARE: Regulations for Early Care and Education and School-Age Centers (retrieved 2026-10-05)
Sourced from the documents listed above. Verified October 2026. This is career and employer information, not licensing or legal advice. Confirm current rules with the Delaware Department of Education, Office of Early Learning (with the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood).