Frequently asked questions
The Texas Rising Star program is a quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for child care programs participating in the Texas Workforce Commission’s (TWC) Child Care Services program. Texas Rising Star certification is available to licensed centers and licensed and registered child care home facilities that meet the certification criteria.
The Texas Rising Star program offers three levels of quality certification (Two-Star, Three-Star, and Four-Star) to encourage child care and early learning programs to attain progressively higher levels of quality. TWC ties these certification levels to graduated enhanced payment rates for children receiving child care scholarships.
A Texas Rising Star-certified program is an early learning program that has an agreement to provide Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Child Care Services and meets requirements that exceed the State’s Child Care Regulation minimum standards, receiving a certification level of Two-, Three-, or Four-Star.
Licensed centers, licensed home-based programs, registered home-based programs, and licensed school age programs are eligible to become Texas Rising Star certified if they meet certain eligibility criteria.
Learn more about Texas Rising Star eligibility.
If your program would like to participate in Texas Rising Star, please review the information on eligibility. Then, begin your certification process by submitting your Interest Form.
Texas Rising Star staff uses the Guidelines to assess and provide technical assistance to early learning programs pursuing Texas Rising Star certification. The Guidelines contain criteria for director and staff qualifications and training, teacher-child interactions, program administration, indoor/outdoor learning environments, and family involvement and education. Learn more in the Texas Rising Star Guidelines.
Find your local workforce development board using the Office Finder.
Yes, nationally accredited child care and early learning programs can participate in Texas Rising Star. Upon receipt of the assessment request and documents for certification, nationally accredited facilities will receive a modified initial assessment. All nationally accredited facilities are subject to Texas Rising Star requirements for CCR minimum standards. Texas Rising Star requires nationally accredited programs to comply with the procedures for the annual monitoring visit. Learn more in the Texas Rising Star Guidelines.
If you have questions about Texas Rising Star, please contact us! Your information will be sent to your local workforce board’s Texas Rising Star contact.