In Standard 4: Administration and Business Practices, at Star 4 for family child care programs ONLY, the program is required to use “an appropriate tool to measure the overall quality of their business and professional practices annually.” What’s an “appropriate tool?”

The purpose of this requirement is to help programs create continuous quality improvement goals around managing their business and professional practices. Last week’s Tip of the Week gave a brief overview of how to start a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Plan; the Business Practices Tool will be another piece of your program’s plan.

If your program already has a way to assess business and professional practices annually, you can continue to use it! This might be something like visiting a business counselor or accessing help through a Maine Small Business Development Center.

If you’re not already using a tool or other resource for evaluating business practices, two options to explore are:

• The National Association for Family Child Care’s Accreditation Standards addressing Professionalism and Business Practices can be used as a self-assessment. (Look for all standards under #5.)
• The Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care by Teri N. Talan and Paula Jorde Bloom is a book available for purchase that includes a self-assessment.

As always, reach out to risingstarsforme@maine.edu with questions.