Texas Rising Star Program

Texas Rising Star is a quality rating and improvement system for Texas early childhood programs. All center based and home based child care providers in Texas can apply to participate in Texas Rising Star if they meet certain eligibility criteria. Programs that participate in Texas Rising Star meet higher quality standards than many other child care programs.

TRS_Logo_Blue_Approved 9.1.21

Provider Certification

Texas Rising Star certification is a process for improving the quality of child care services provided in Workforce Solutions of West Central Texas’ 19 county Service Delivery Area. A Texas Rising Star Provider is a child care provider that has an agreement with the Board's Child Care Services (CCS) Contractor to serve families receiving CCS assistance and that meets requirements to exceed the State's Minimum Licensing Standards for child care facilities. The Texas Rising Star Provider certification system provides graduated levels of certification as providers meet progressively higher certification requirements.

Certification as a Texas Rising Star Provider is available to Licensed Center, Licensed Child Care Home, and Registered Child Care Home providers who meet the certification criteria. The process improves the quality of child care provided, not only to CCS-subsidized children, but to all children enrolled in certified facilities.

Effective October 3, 2022 any Texas child care provider wishing to participate in the Child Care Services (CCS) program must be designated as Entry Level and agree to work with a mentor towards Texas Rising Star certification.

Benefits

The benefits to being a Texas Rising Star Provider include:

  • A higher quality of care, which benefits children and families and may ultimately promote the program
  • Child Protective Services (CPS) requires that CPS children be placed only with Texas Rising Star providers
  • Access to additional resources and training
  • Higher reimbursement rates from CCS

Additional Information

Contact our Child Care Quality team for more information on the Texas Rising Star program.

TRS CCS Provider List