Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care (BAS)

The Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care (BAS) is the first valid and reliable tool for measuring and improving the overall quality of business and professional practices in family child care settings. It is applicable for multiple uses, including program self-improvement, technical assistance and monitoring, training, research and evaluation, and public awareness. The BAS is designed to complement the widely used Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale–Revised (FCCERS-R).

When used together, they provide a comprehensive picture of the quality of the family child care learning environment and the business practices that support the program.

With the BAS, providers can easily set goals to incrementally improve business practices that will result in better communication with parents, financial stability, reduced risk in operating a home business, and compliance with legal requirements. Using a 7-point rating scale (inadequate to excellent), this easy-to-use assessment instrument measures:

• Qualifications and Professional Development
• Income and Benefits
• Work Environment
• Fiscal Management
• Recordkeeping
• Risk Management
• Provider–Parent Communication
• Community Resources
• Marketing and Public Relations
• Provider as Employer

Teri N. Talan is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education and Director of Research and Public Policy for the McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National-Louis University in Wheeling, Illinois. Paula Jorde Bloom is the Michael W. Louis Endowed Chair of the McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership and Professor of Early Childhood Education at National-Louis University. They are the authors of the bestselling Program Administration Scale: Measuring Early Childhood Leadership and Management (PAS).

“This valuable book should be used by any organization interested in increasing the business skills of family child care providers in their community.”
—Tom Copeland, consultant to the National Association for Family Child Care

“Using the Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care in Tennessee has provided us with a valuable, practical tool to support best practices in family child care and to inspire providers to seek continuous improvements.”
—Lin Venable, Assistant Program Director, Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance

“This publication will help family child care providers succeed as small business owners and develop their parent policies and communications. The BAS identifies optimal business practices for college instructors, trainers, coaches, and mentors. And it fills in where other quality assessment instruments leave off, helping researchers and evaluators to include this underlying foundation of quality in family child care.”
—Kathy Modigliani, Family Child Care Project

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction
   What Is Disproportionality?
   Technical Remedies for Addressing Disproportionality Through IDEA
   The Limits of IDEA to Address Complex Inequities
   Examining Compliance and Equity in Everyday Actions
   Organization of the Book
   Holding Ourselves Accountable for Inequity

Chapter 1. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Enacting Equal Opportunity Through Procedural Compliance
   Civil Rights for Students with Disabilities
   Policy Implementation Within Local Contexts
   The Limits of IDEA and Compliance

Chapter 2. Educational Opportunity and Racial Inequities in Special Education
   Educational Opportunity Gaps and Disproportionality 
   Disproportionality Is Complex

Chapter 3. The Crucial Role of Educational Leadership
   Leading for Equity
   Enacting Change for Educational Equity

Chapter 4. Parental "Power" and IDEA
   Social Reproduction and Educational Outcomes
   Special Education and Opportunity Hoarding
   Individual Remedies for Systemic Inequities

Chapter 5. The Logic of Compliance
   Civil Rights Intent and Procedural Compliance
   Solving Disproportionality Through the Logic of Compliance
   The Limits of the Law

Conclusion: Moving Beyond the Compliance Paradigm
   Does Compliance Matter in Special Education?
   The Boundaries of the Compliance Paradigm
   Challenging the Compliance Paradigm
   What is the Answer to the Question?

Appendix A: Methodology
   Fieldwork Details
   Analysis Strategy
   Site Selection and Positionality

Appendix B: State Performance Plan Indicators

Appendix C: Interview Protocols
   District Staff Interview Protocol
   Outside Adults Interview Protocol

Notes

References

Index

About the Author