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

Maryland's quality rating and improvement system is Maryland EXCELS.

It rates child care and early education programs on a scale of 1 to 5, with Level 5 the level for programs that meet the highest standards and are state or nationally accredited.

Eligibility is broad: all licensed child care centers — including school-age-only and Letter of Compliance programs — and registered family child care homes that are open and operating are eligible to participate, as are licensed Head Start programs and public pre-K.

One participation requirement our research confirmed runs through subsidy: to use the Child Care Scholarship program, families must enroll their children in programs participating in Maryland EXCELS, so participation matters for any program serving scholarship families.

The pages our research read do not state any other participation mandate, so confirm where your program stands with Maryland EXCELS or MSDE's Office of Child Care.

Maryland EXCELS rates programs from 1 to 5.

Level 5 is the top of the scale: Level 5 programs meet the highest standards and are state or nationally accredited.

That accreditation link is the level meaning our research confirmed; the specific requirements Maryland EXCELS applies at each level below Level 5 were not captured in our research, and neither were the staff-qualification criteria attached to each level.

Work from Maryland EXCELS' own current pages rather than from older summaries when you plan a move up the scale, and ask Maryland EXCELS or MSDE's Office of Child Care for the per-level requirements.

Our research did not confirm the staff-qualification criteria Maryland EXCELS applies at each rating level, so this page cannot say which credentials or training hours move a program up a level; ask Maryland EXCELS or MSDE's Office of Child Care for the current criteria.

Separate from the rating is the Maryland Child Care Credential, a voluntary program with seven credential levels for child care staff and four for administrators.

Credentials last 12 months and renew with continued training and professional activities.

How the Credential interacts with EXCELS ratings was not confirmed in our research, so do not assume a credential level maps to a rating level.

Our research did not confirm which observation tool Maryland EXCELS uses, how observations are scheduled, or who conducts them.

That gap matters for classroom planning: a director preparing for a rating should ask Maryland EXCELS or MSDE's Office of Child Care which tool applies to the program's setting before building observation preparation around a tool name.

The clearest incentive our research confirmed is access to subsidized families: to use the Child Care Scholarship program, families must enroll their children in programs participating in Maryland EXCELS, so participation is what lets a program serve those families.

A Level 5 rating also marks a program as state or nationally accredited, the top of the EXCELS scale.

Beyond that, our research did not confirm bonus, stipend or reimbursement amounts tied to an EXCELS rating or to the Maryland Child Care Credential, so ask Maryland EXCELS or MSDE's Office of Child Care what incentives currently apply before a center budgets around one.

Start from the source: a director preparing for a rating should work from Maryland EXCELS' own current materials rather than from third-party summaries, because this page's research could not confirm every per-level requirement.

Check that the program's own license or registration type is among the ones EXCELS covers, since eligibility runs through licensed centers, registered family child care homes and the other program types the system covers.

Build staff development into the plan: the voluntary Maryland Child Care Credential gives staff a seven-level structure to work through, and credentials last 12 months, renewing with continued training and professional activities.

Keep documentation of training and professional activities current as staff complete them, since renewal depends on continued training and professional activities.

And take anything unclear — criteria, observations, incentives — directly to Maryland EXCELS or MSDE's Office of Child Care before committing the program to a timeline.