Cost of Quality: The Costs of Achieving Quality in Nebraska’s Step Up to Quality System

Prepared for First Five Nebraska in 2018

Through its Step Up to Quality program, the state of Nebraska made a significant and ambitious investment in its early childhood education system. The program is designed to encourage and support early childhood care and education providers in pursuing training, coaching, and other quality improvements to achieve progressively higher ratings (up to the highest quality rating of step 5). The ultimate goal is to improve opportunities and education quality for Nebraska’s pre-kindergarten-aged children, and to reduce the potentially large percentages of Nebraska’s children at risk of failing in school. 

APA’s work fulfills two key purposes. The primary purpose was to document the costs providers incur in order to attain specific step levels within Step Up to Quality, focusing on the costs necessary to meet Step Up to Quality requirements and any other activities completed to potentially attain a higher rating. A second purpose was to document the costs of administering the Step Up to Quality program, including program operations and staffing costs.