Date of Award

August 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Foundations & Research

First Advisor

Robert R. Stupnisky

Abstract

This study evaluates the quality rating improvement system (QRIS) of early childcare programs in North Dakota through exploring providers’ perceptions, motivation, and challenges to QRIS. It focuses on understanding program characteristics (type, location, role, experience) and its association with providers’ perception, motivation and challenges furthermore on QRIS participation. Utilizing a cross-sectional survey design, this study mainly collected data through an online survey using Qualtrics. The participants were administrators, family group care providers, teachers and assistant teachers. The final sample size was 238. Following quantitative data analysis framework, descriptive analysis was conducted including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation to know the present situation of program and providers overall perception, motivation and challenges. Moreover, inferential analysis (t-tests, ANOVAs) was conducted to explore the group difference of program characteristics on perception, motivation and challenges. Furthermore, two sets of hierarchical logistic regression have been employed to identify the factors predicting QRIS participation in Bright & Early ND.

This study found significant results considering program type, location, role, steps, and providers’ years of experience. The key findings are: (a) metropolitan providers were more frequently represented in higher QRIS steps than nonmetropolitan providers; (b) coaching/ consultation and financial incentives were identified as highly effective outreach methods; (c) administrators and teachers reported their perceptions about overall program significantly differ by program type; (d) administrators’ perceptions of program quality significantly differed by QRIS step, conversely, teachers’ perceptions of program quality significantly differed by location; (e) administrators’ motivation significantly differed by both center location and QRIS steps, however, teachers’ motivation did not significantly differ by any program characteristics; (f) administrators’ challenges did not significantly differ by any program characteristics, while, teachers’ challenges significantly differed by program type; and (g) higher experiences of administrators and teachers are the key predictors of QRIS participation, whereas administrators’ perceptions of the overall program, program quality, and lower perceived challenges also played a significant role.

This study suggests that advancing to higher QRIS step requires stronger support systems, better communication, greater workforce investment, and more equitable access to resources across provider settings.

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