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. It is currently embedded in many state quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) across the nation.

Using a 7-point rating scale (inadequate to excellent), this easy-to-use instrument assesses 10 items:

Qualifications and Professional DevelopmentIncome and BenefitsWork EnvironmentFiscal ManagementRecordkeepingProvider-Family CommunicationFamily Support and EngagementMarketing and Community RelationsProvider as Employer

The second edition of the BAS includes refinements to support the reliable use of the instrument and to reflect current best practices in administering a family child care program:

The Notes for the BAS items are expanded to increase understanding and facilitate greater consistency in both interpretation and scoring. There is greater emphasis on practices that promote family and community engagement.New national norms for the BAS are reported based on data collected between 2009 and 2017 from 439 home-based programs in 22 states.

Use the BAS in conjunction with the Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale–Revised (FCCERS-R) for a comprehensive picture of your family child care learning environment and the business and professional practices that support the program.