Parent Aware Policy Manual

The Parent Aware Policy Manual DHS-6346F (PDF) contains the policies for participation in Parent Aware, Minnesota’s voluntary quality rating and improvement system, which provides quality ratings to child care and early education programs based on a one- to four-star scale. These ratings, shared on ParentAware.org, provide information to families, encouraging them to consider higher rated programs when searching for a child care and early education program for their children.

Parent Aware also provides a common set of best practices for child care and early education, and offers supports to help programs work toward best practices. This allows them to evaluate the quality of their programs, and make targeted improvements to better support child development and learning.

The primary users of the Parent Aware manual are members of the Child Care Aware of Minnesota system including quality coaches, Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) coaches, professional development staff, coach supervisors, Parent Aware raters, Parent Aware recruiters and Child Care Aware coordinating office staff.

Quality Documentation Portfolios

The manual refers to the following Quality Documentation Portfolios (QDPs) that child care programs use to apply for ratings.

• Parent Aware Rating Guide: Full-Rating Pathway Quality Documentation Portfolio (PDF)
• Parent Aware Rating Guide Full-Rating Pathway Quality Documentation Portfolio (Spanish) (PDF)
• Parent Aware Rating Guide: Accelerated Pathway Quality Documentation Portfolio (PDF)
• Parent Aware Rating Guide: Expedited Pathway Quality Documentation Portfolio (PDF)

The guides listed above are available through www.parentaware.org.