Maryland Excels Designation
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Anonymous
| How important is it? We're considering a few preschools - one which is a 3 checks Maryland Excels (out of a total of 5), and the others that are 1 check. I'm surprised by the designation since the 1 check schools seemed far superior when I visited them than the 3 checks school. For example, the teachers at the 1 check school seemed more engaged, better educated, more knowledgable, etc. |
Anonymous
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I know that this is an older post but I'll reply anyhow.
The designations simply mean the progress the programs have made toward documenting their quality. Some programs (center or home) choose to go slowly or haven't time to create the documentation needed to move on. Even a level one is above Maryland licensing standards (which are already quite strict) |
Anonymous
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Daycare provider here. Glad I came across this thread - I have been wondering if parents are even aware of the Excels program.
As the pp above me explained, the ratings are based on self-reporting. There is a LOT of documentation involved, it is extremely time consuming to write, submit, and revise documents. I would rather spend my time engaged with the kids doing the things than writing about them. My only motivation for participating in Excels is to improve my professional image. The system is designed in a way that makes it nearly impossible to achieve a level 5 rating - this is mostly due to the time limit on submitting documents. I guess my point is that a high excel rating mostly indicates that a provider is good with paperwork and wants to be seen as a professional. It is not so much a reflection on the daycare program though. I predict that Maryland Dept of Education will revamp but not do away with Excels. It is supposed to be a quality rating system but in its current state it does not really work as such. |
Anonymous
| I'm a daycare provider and I see the excels program as virtually useless. It really does not tell parents much of anything. In order to receive vouchers you have to be enrolled in Excels. I believe that most providers would not enroll if they weren't forced to do so. I am not enrolled I also don't need to I do not accept vouchers and I don't like the idea of spending more time documenting the quality of my program when I would rather be actually giving my daycare kids a quality program. |
Anonymous
| Excel is bs |
Anonymous
| Ignore it. Our center is 5 star and it totally does not deserve it, the management is terrible and runs staff off all the time so there's high turnover and the kids suffer. Use your common sense, investigate the things that matter to you, and decide based on that. |
Anonymous
| It is bureaucratic nonsense and a distraction from actual quality teaching. |
Anonymous
Only schools that can’t get the high EXCELS designation believe this. It’s a quality control for your preschool. Stop lying to these people on DCUM. |
Anonymous
As a parent who has used multiple preschools I disagree. |
Anonymous
+1 Our preschool is the highest designation of Level 5. It has a high quality program and low turnover. You cannot get this designation unless all of your lead teachers are certified and degrees and you have little turnover. This leads me to believe that the other posters comments above are either uneducated about EXCELS or they are actually owners of schools that do not have the excels accreditation disguused as a parent. As a parent, you cannot look it up yourself and you will see. |
Anonymous
Everything I looked at for my kids was unrated or in the 0-2 range, so I have no experience with 5. We were looking at small part time preschool options. No idea what your school is and no experience with schools at that level. At our level, I did not find 1-2 to be a step up from unrated. In some cases, quite the opposite. |
Anonymous
| Even schools with level 4 or 5 excels has tons of violations |
Anonymous
Me again. I’m curious now. I looked around on the check childcare website and I found some large daycare centers that had 5s (Goddard, Children in the Shoe). I am wondering if high excel numbers correlate with large centers, or if that’s just anecdotally in my searching. |
Anonymous
Yes, I think having a large center means more administrative capacity to do all the paperwork needed for an Excels rating. Doesn't mean all large centers/chains have this. I think in looking for providers I'd look first at: 1. Are they in compliance licensing-wise (some paperwork violations are fine but a laundry list of them or any ratio violations is a red flag to me) 2. What do they say when you ask about teacher turnover? (many will say turnover is normal and that is true but a good center can brag about how long their teachers stay, at our Excels level 3 center even the assistants rarely turned over except during the height of the pandemic) 3. When you visit, are the teachers engaged with the kids or do they look annoyed/bored (yes, I've seen this during tours of very expensive centers)? 4. If answers to the above are good, check accreditation/Excels level to compare quality. |
Anonymous
If you have high turnover and uncertified and non degreed teachers you will never get a high level Excels designation. It doesn’t matter if you’re large or small and it DEFINITELY has nothing to do with administrative paperwork. |