Where Our Data Comes From
Preschool Index starts from one rule: a program is listed because its state licenses it. The state's child care licence register is the list. Everything else is attached to a register entry, and anything we cannot match to a licence is left out.
The four sources
- State licence registers. Name, licence type and number, licensed capacity, ages served, hours, subsidy participation, state quality rating and, where the state publishes them, every inspection violation with its risk level and correction date. Sources: Texas Health and Human Services (Child Care Regulation), the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, through each state's open data portal.
- The program's own website. Tuition, teaching approach, accreditation, languages, meals. We read the home page and the tuition and program pages. Tuition is shown only when the page states the amount and the period, and we keep the quote.
- Google. Star rating, review count, review excerpts, opening hours and a photo, for programs with a public business profile. Ratings are labelled as Google's.
- The program itself. A director who claims a listing can confirm details and add what only a program knows. Claimed listings are marked.
What the labels mean
- Licence active: the program is on the state register with an active licence on the sync date shown.
- Verified with a date: the day we last synced that record with the state.
- Not listed: the source does not give that detail. It does not mean the program lacks it.
- Stated by the program: taken from the program's website, not checked with the accrediting body.
Violations
Violations are shown in the state's own words, with the state's risk level, and the date each was corrected. We count them over the last three years and show the median for daycare centers in the same area, because nearly every program has some. We do not score programs on safety, and no wording on a violation is ours.
Order of listings
Programs are ordered by their public Google reviews, using an average weighted by review count so that a handful of five-star reviews does not outrank hundreds at 4.8. Violations, claims and sponsorship do not change the order. A sponsored placement is labelled and sits outside the list.
Home daycares
A home daycare is someone's home. Listings show the city and ZIP code and never the street address, even where the state publishes it. Home daycares without a public business profile appear as a register entry on the city page.
What we do not check
We do not visit programs, observe classrooms or verify staff credentials. State data can lag behind events. Always visit in person and open the state record linked on every profile.