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Maryland Excels

Maryland Excels

Maryland EXCELS is a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) - a program that awards ratings to registered family child care providers, licensed child care centers, and public pre-K programs that meet increasingly higher standards of quality in key areas. Maryland EXCELS is a voluntary program designed to increase parent and provider awareness of the elements of high quality early care and education, to recognize and support providers who are meeting those standards, and to educate families and the community about the importance of high quality child care.

Maryland EXCELS has three major goals:

  • To recognize early childcare and school age education programs for their level of quality
  • To encourage providers to increase the level of quality provided in their programs
  • To provide parents with information and choices about quality child care

How do I become a participating program in Maryland EXCELS?

Any licensed child care center (including Head Start and school-age only) program, registered family child care home provider, or public preschool that is in compliance with licensing or other state requirements and has been in operation for at least 12 months is eligible to participate in Maryland EXCELS.

Visit MarylandEXCELS.org to learn more. Standards are available by clicking here.

Access the Marylalnd EXCELS toolkit by clicking here.