Adapting child care market price surveys to support state quality initiatives

At ICF, we understand the multifaceted challenges faced by our clients in childcare and education organizations. As policies change, ICF provides the insights and expertise our clients rely on to adapt to new regulations while also making the best decisions for students, educators and families—for lasting, positive impact.

Recent changes to the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) require a state’s child care market price survey to:

• Be statistically valid and reliable
• Reflect variations in the cost of child care services by geographic area, type of provider, and age of child

States may use an alternative methodology for setting payment rates, such as a cost estimation model, to take into account the cost of meeting quality requirements.

This white paper provides an overview on how states can adapt to meet these new requirements and also align price surveys to better support efforts to improve the access that children have to high-quality early learning programs.