Quality for ME
Quality for ME is a four-step program designed to increase
awareness of the basic standards of early care and education, to recognize and support providers who
are providing care above and beyond those standards, and to educate the community of the benefits
of higher quality care. Quality for ME has three goals.
- To recognize child care programs that provide quality care
- To encourage providers to increase their level of quality
- To provide parents with identifiable standards of quality
Quality Rating System Application Manual - PDF*
Please review the Quality Rating System Application Manual before completing the application.
What is the background of Quality for ME?
Quality for ME is a system that has been designed in collaboration with many
parents, providers and stakeholders in the early care and education (ECE) system. In 2004 a group of
key ECE stakeholders in the state of Maine attended a meeting where they began the discussion around
the formation of a system to identify quality child care programs based on a certain set of criteria.
Over the next two years the Early Childhood Division of DHHS held two series of focus groups to find out
how parents and providers define quality in early care and education settings. The Early Childhood
Division then took the results from those focus groups along with national research on the indicators
of quality and created a tiered system to identify programs based on their level of quality.
The Quality for ME system was also created to identify those programs that
may need additional resources and /or supports to increase their level of quality as it is measured
by the Quality for ME system.
For more information about the Quality for ME Quality Rating System please email
QualityforME@maine.gov
or call Kristen Slefinger at 624-7917. You may also call your local RDC, or Allyson Dean at Maine Roads to
Quality, 780-5833 for additional information.
Quality for ME Standards
Standards for Child Care Centers - PDF*
Standards for Family Child Care Homes - PDF*
Standards for School-Age Care - PDF*
Standards for Head Start Programs - PDF*
Online Application
For a free viewer
or to request a hard copy
