Texas Rising Star Provider Program

The Texas Rising Star Provider program offers providers the opportunity to participate in a voluntary plan to improve the quality of child care by meeting program criteria that exceed the Minimum Standards for Child Care Licensing.

Program Benefits

Texas Rising Star providers are eligible to receive:

Materials and equipment
Child Development college course scholarships
Child Development conference scholarships
CDA assessment fees paid
Free child development consultant
Free staff training

Steps to Becoming a Texas Rising Star

The Texas Rising Star Provider program criteria includes the following areas:

Licensing standards
Director qualifications
Staff qualifications
Staff orientation
Staff training
Group size
Curriculum/activities
Caregiver to child interactions
Indoor/outdoor environments
Health and safety
Nutrition/meal times
Parental involvement

Upon deciding to participate in the Texas Rising Star program, providers will need to take the following steps:

Request an application packet
Complete a self-assessment with your staff
Return the completed application packet
The provider services specialist conducts an initial screening visit/”walk-through”
Assessment is scheduled convenient to your schedule
Exit interview is conducted at the end of the assessment
Scoring is completed and delivered with the certificate
Quality improvement is developed
Monitoring is scheduled by certification level

Participation Requirements

Child care providers interested in becoming a Texas Rising Star provider must:

Have a permanent license or registration with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)
Be on monitoring plan 2 or 3 with DFPS
Have a center director on permanent status with DFPS
Be ready to start!

In addition to the above requirements, the Texas Rising Star program requires the provider to be contracted with Child Care Services.

Visit the Texas Workforce Commission for more information.