Talan and Bloom Administration Scale for Family Child Care (2009): a complete guide

Last updated 2026-07-09

What is the Talan and Bloom Administration Scale for Family Child Care?

The Administration Scale for Family Child Care, almost always called the ASFCC, is a standardized observational rating tool created by Teri Talan and Paula Jorde Bloom at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University. The second edition came out in 2009, replacing the original 2004 version. It was built specifically for regulated family child care homes, meaning licensed or registered providers who run programs out of their own residence rather than a commercial center. ^[1]

Why does that distinction matter? Most quality assessment tools, including the widely used Environment Rating Scales, focus on what children experience directly: materials, routines, interactions. The ASFCC zooms out one level and asks how the business and the program are actually run. Are families getting written contracts? Does the provider have a professional development plan? Is there a system for children's records? Those things affect child outcomes indirectly but powerfully, and they were historically underexamined in quality improvement work for home-based care.

The scale takes roughly two to three hours to administer. A trained assessor visits the home, reviews documents, observes the environment and practices, and sometimes interviews the provider. The result is a detailed profile of administrative strengths and gaps across ten distinct practice areas. It is not a licensing inspection checklist, though states have folded it into QRIS star ratings that do connect to licensing benefits.

What does the ASFCC actually measure? The 10 subscales explained

The 2009 edition organizes its 47 items under 10 subscales. Each subscale targets a different dimension of program administration. Here is what each one covers: ^[1]

Subscale	Focus area
1. Indoor/outdoor environment	Physical space, safety, materials organized for children's use
2. Family partnerships	Enrollment policies, family communication, contracts
3. Provider as professional	Credentials, professional associations, ongoing training
4. Leadership and advocacy	Community involvement, advocacy for the field
5. Management	Business practices, record-keeping, insurance
6. Child assessment	Observation of children, developmental screening practices
7. Curriculum	Written curriculum or activity planning
8. Health and safety practices	Illness exclusion, medication policies, emergency plans
9. Community and inclusion resources	Connections to community services, inclusion of children with special needs
10. Professional development and supervision	Self-assessment, goal-setting, seeking feedback

Each item within a subscale is rated on a 1-to-7 scale, where 1 means inadequate, 3 means minimal, 5 means good, and 7 means excellent. This is the same logic the ITERS and ECERS use, so coaches and assessors already familiar with those tools pick up the scoring fast. Items at the 3 level generally describe basic regulatory compliance. Items at 5 and 7 describe practice that goes well beyond what licensing requires.

The subscales are not equally weighted when computing a total score. The published instrument gives guidance on computing both subscale averages and an overall mean, and research using the scale typically reports both. A total score below 3.0 is generally treated as inadequate across the field, and most QRIS programs that use the ASFCC set their minimum acceptable score for higher quality tiers somewhere between 3.5 and 5.0, depending on state policy.

Who developed the ASFCC and what was the research base?

Teri Talan is a researcher and policy analyst at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership. Paula Jorde Bloom founded that center and is one of the most recognized researchers in early childhood program administration. They built the original ASFCC in 2004, then revised it based on feedback from practitioners and assessors in the field, releasing the 2009 edition through New Horizons, the publishing arm of the McCormick Center. ^[1]

The development process involved pilot testing across family child care providers in Illinois and other states. The 2009 revision expanded the tool, clarified anchor descriptors at each level, and refined the subscale structure. Reliability studies on the instrument report interrater agreement in the acceptable range, meaning two trained assessors looking at the same program generally reach similar scores. The McCormick Center's published reliability data from their training programs typically show intraclass correlation coefficients above 0.80 for most subscales, which is the threshold most researchers use to call an instrument reliable enough for high-stakes decisions. ^[1]

The ASFCC does not have the decades-long research base that the Environment Rating Scales carry, so its predictive validity for child outcomes is less established. Nobody has good long-term data directly linking ASFCC subscale scores to later child academic achievement the way some center-based tools do. What exists is structural: higher ASFCC scores correlate with providers who hold CDA credentials, participate in training, and maintain organized business practices, all of which are associated with program quality in broader research. ^[2]

How is the ASFCC scored and what counts as a good score?

Scoring follows the same 1-7 anchored scale used by the Environment Rating Scales family. For each item, a 1 reflects inadequate practice, meaning the program is not meeting even a baseline standard. A 3 is minimal, roughly matching basic regulatory compliance. A 5 is good, representing consistently solid practice beyond the minimum. A 7 is excellent, meaning the provider shows exemplary and intentional practice in that area. ^[1]

To score any item above a 3, every indicator at the 3 level must be met. To reach a 5, all 3 indicators and all 5 indicators must be met. This is additive, not averaging. If a provider meets most 5 indicators but misses one, the score stays at 3. That strictness frustrates some providers at first, but it produces scores that actually discriminate rather than clustering artificially high.

Subscale scores come from averaging item scores within the subscale. The total scale score is the average of all subscale scores. In practice, most programs land somewhere between 2.5 and 5.0. Scores above 5.0 are uncommon and generally reflect very experienced, highly trained providers who have built formal systems over years.

For QRIS purposes, different states draw their cut lines differently. Ohio's Step Up To Quality program and Illinois's ExceleRate Illinois both reference environmental and administrative assessments in their tiered ratings, and programs that score low on the administrative side are typically capped at lower quality tiers regardless of their environment scores. A strong environment rating does not rescue weak administration scores in most state systems.

If you are preparing for an ASFCC assessment and want to map your current practices against subscale requirements, a licensing and compliance toolkit like the one at ChildCareComp can help you track documentation and policy gaps before the assessor arrives.

How is the ASFCC used in QRIS and state licensing systems?

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems are tiered frameworks that states use to rate, improve, and communicate the quality of child care programs. As of 2024, 40 states and the District of Columbia operate some form of QRIS. ^[3] The ASFCC is one of several tools states can use to assess family child care providers specifically, and a meaningful subset of states have adopted it, sometimes alongside environment rating scales.

Illinois is the most prominent example. The McCormick Center is based there, and Illinois's QRIS framework has built administration quality assessment for home-based providers into its quality tier criteria. States that use the ASFCC generally require assessors to complete formal training through the McCormick Center before conducting assessments for official purposes. That training typically runs two to three days and includes practice scoring and calibration exercises. ^[1]

The CCDF, which is the federal Child Care and Development Fund block grant that finances most state subsidy and quality improvement spending, requires that states with QRIS use a research-based quality assessment tool for providers receiving CCDF quality improvement funds. ^[4] The ASFCC qualifies, which is why it has gained traction in state systems: it gives administrators a defensible, research-grounded way to differentiate family child care quality for subsidy and improvement purposes. Providers who qualify for higher QRIS tiers often receive higher childcare subsidy reimbursement rates, so the ASFCC score has real financial consequences.

Child Care Aware of America's annual State Fact Sheets document which states operate tiered QRIS and whether they include family child care quality assessments, making those reports a useful reference for tracking which states currently use tools like the ASFCC. ^[3]

How does the ASFCC compare to other family child care quality tools?

The main alternatives to the ASFCC in family child care quality assessment are the Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS-R or the newer FCCERS-3) and the Supports for Social-Emotional Learning (SSEL) assessment. Here is how they stack up:

Tool	Primary focus	Items	Scorer	Administration time
ASFCC (2009)	Program administration and business practices	47	External assessor	2-3 hours
FCCERS-3 (2019)	Physical environment, care routines, interactions	30 subscale items	External assessor	3-4 hours
PAS (Program Administration Scale)	Center-based administration	25	External assessor	3-4 hours
Self-assessment checklists	Provider self-report	Varies	Provider	30-60 min

The FCCERS looks at what children directly experience: the physical space, materials, routines, and interactions. The ASFCC looks at what makes those things possible: policies, documentation, professional development, community connections. They complement each other rather than compete. Many states that use both require assessors to be certified in each separately.

The Program Administration Scale (PAS), also by Talan and Bloom, is the center-based version of the same construct. If you run a daycare center, the PAS is the right tool. The ASFCC was built from scratch for home settings, not adapted from the PAS, and that matters because running a program out of your home is genuinely different from running a stand-alone center. ^[1]

Self-assessment checklists exist from various state agencies and Child Care Resource and Referral agencies, but they lack reliability data and are generally not accepted for QRIS rating purposes. They are fine for internal planning. They are no substitute for an external structured observation.

What do low ASFCC scores mean, and what are the most common weak areas?

In research using the ASFCC, scores on the provider as professional, leadership and advocacy, and child assessment subscales tend to run lower than scores on health and safety or family partnerships. This makes sense. Health and safety practices are heavily enforced by licensing, so providers who make it through licensing tend to score reasonably well there. Child assessment and leadership advocacy are rarely required by state licensing regulations at all, so many providers simply have not built those practices. ^[1]

A low score on the management subscale usually means the provider lacks written policies, does not carry liability insurance appropriate to a child care business, or has not separated business finances from personal finances. These are real business risks, more than paper compliance issues. A provider without a written tuition contract is exposed to payment disputes. A provider without proper insurance is financially vulnerable in a way that can end the business.

The curriculum subscale often surprises providers. A 7 on that subscale does not mean you follow a rigid packaged program. It means you have a documented approach to planning activities that supports children's development, and you can explain how it connects to your state's early learning standards. Many excellent home providers do exactly this intuitively but have not written it down. Writing it down is often the only gap between their current practice and a score of 5. Connecting your planning approach to something like a free preschool curriculum framework or a more structured preschool curriculum can help you meet this item.

Child assessment showing up as a common weak area is worth noting for policy reasons. Research consistently shows that developmental screening catches delays earlier when providers systematically observe children and share that information with families. The ASFCC's push on this subscale is not bureaucratic. It reflects genuine best practice.

How should a family child care provider prepare for an ASFCC assessment?

The single most important step is getting a copy of the actual instrument and reading every item descriptor. The ASFCC is published by the McCormick Center and available for purchase through New Horizons. It is not expensive, typically under $30 as of recent years, and reading it yourself beats any summary guide. ^[1]

Once you have the instrument, do a self-audit against the management and family partnerships subscales first. Those two cover things entirely within your control and require no special training: written enrollment contracts, tuition policies, confidentiality policies, parent communication logs, emergency information for each child, proof of insurance, and a business budget. If you are missing any of those documents, create them before the assessment. Your state's Child Care Resource and Referral agency likely has templates.

For the professional development subscale, document what training you have completed in the past year, list any professional associations you belong to (the National Association for Family Child Care, your state's association), and write a brief professional development plan for yourself. The assessor is looking for evidence that you think about your own growth intentionally, more than that you completed the required licensing hours.

For curriculum, write down your approach to planning activities, even if it is simple. If you use any structured curriculum framework such as a Montessori preschool curriculum approach or a program like Creative Curriculum for Preschool, document that and be ready to explain how it connects to what children do in your program. Providers working specifically with three-year-olds may find resources on preschool curriculum for 3-year-olds useful for articulating their planning approach.

For health and safety, pull out your emergency plan, check that it is current and posted, confirm your medication policies are written and signed by families, and verify your liability and business insurance is current. These are easy points to lose if documentation has lapsed.

Make sure your physical space is ready. The indoor/outdoor environment subscale is observational: the assessor walks through and looks at how materials are organized, whether spaces are accessible and safe, and whether the environment supports children's independent exploration. You do not need to buy new equipment. Everything should be organized, accessible to children, and in good repair.

Does the ASFCC affect licensing, and can a low score get a provider shut down?

No. The ASFCC is not a licensing inspection tool. State licensing agencies inspect for health, safety, and regulatory compliance using their own checklists tied to state regulations. A low ASFCC score does not result in license revocation or any direct licensing consequence.

What a low score can affect is QRIS tier placement and, in states where higher QRIS tiers carry higher subsidy reimbursement rates, the provider's income. In some states, access to quality improvement grants and coaching supports is also tied to QRIS participation and tier level. So the indirect financial stakes are real.

Some states have also built connections between QRIS tier and marketing benefits. State referral websites sometimes display QRIS star ratings, and families searching for care increasingly filter by quality tier. A provider stuck at tier 1 because of low administrative quality scores may get fewer referrals over time.

If you are in a state that licenses family child care homes and you are handling both licensing and QRIS requirements at the same time, state-specific licensing guides can help you separate what the law requires from what is voluntary quality improvement. For providers in Michigan, for example, the Michigan daycare licensing requirements are distinct from ASFCC scoring and do not overlap with it.

How do coaches and technical assistance providers use the ASFCC?

Coaches who support family child care providers through Child Care Resource and Referral agencies, QRIS support systems, or state training networks use the ASFCC in two main ways: as a baseline assessment at the start of a coaching relationship, and as a periodic progress measure to track improvement over time.

At baseline, the subscale profile tells a coach where to focus. A provider who scores well on health and safety but poorly on child assessment and curriculum gets a very different coaching plan than a provider with the reverse profile. Without the structured data, coaching conversations tend to drift toward whatever feels most urgent on a given visit rather than what will most change quality.

Over time, reassessment with the ASFCC every 12 to 18 months gives both the provider and the coach concrete evidence of progress. Watching a child assessment subscale score move from 2.0 to 4.5 over a year motivates in a way that a general feeling of improvement does not.

The McCormick Center offers ASFCC assessor training and has published implementation guides for coaches and technical assistance providers. If your state QRIS uses the ASFCC for official ratings, the assessors conducting those ratings must complete that formal training and demonstrate calibration to accepted reliability thresholds before scoring programs for official purposes. ^[1]

For providers who work with coaches and are also building out their curriculum and professional credentials, working toward a CDA credential at the same time often speeds up ASFCC scores on the professional development and curriculum subscales, since CDA competency standards overlap with what those subscales measure.

Where can providers and administrators get the ASFCC and official training?

The ASFCC instrument is published by New Horizons, the McCormick Center's publishing operation at National Louis University. You can order it directly through the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership's website. The instrument book, which includes all items, anchor descriptors, scoring sheets, and administration guidance, is the definitive source. ^[1]

Formal assessor training runs through the McCormick Center, both in person and online. It typically takes two to three days, includes calibration exercises, and results in a certificate of completion. States that use the ASFCC for official QRIS ratings generally specify that assessors must hold this certification.

If you are a provider rather than an assessor, you do not need the formal training to use the instrument for self-assessment. Buying the book and working through it yourself is a legitimate, useful preparation strategy. Some Child Care Resource and Referral agencies also offer group orientations to the ASFCC for providers in their networks.

At ChildCareComp, the compliance toolkit includes documentation checklists that map to common ASFCC subscale requirements, particularly the management, family partnerships, and health and safety subscales, which can help providers audit their records before a formal assessment visit.

For administrators building or refining a QRIS that includes family child care, the McCormick Center also publishes research and policy briefs on implementing the ASFCC at scale, including guidance on assessor training pipelines and reliability monitoring. Those are on their website and are worth reviewing before adopting the tool formally in a state or local system.

Frequently asked questions

What year was the Talan and Bloom Administration Scale for Family Child Care published?

The second edition of the ASFCC was published in 2009 by Teri Talan and Paula Jorde Bloom through the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University. The original first edition came out in 2004. The 2009 version is the current standard used in QRIS systems and coaching programs.

How many items and subscales does the ASFCC have?

The 2009 ASFCC has 47 items organized into 10 subscales: indoor/outdoor environment, family partnerships, provider as professional, leadership and advocacy, management, child assessment, curriculum, health and safety practices, community and inclusion resources, and professional development and supervision. Each item is scored on a 1-to-7 scale.

What is a good ASFCC score for a family child care provider?

Scores of 3.0 to 3.9 are generally considered minimal, roughly matching basic regulatory compliance. A score of 5.0 or above indicates good quality. Most QRIS programs set their mid-to-upper tier thresholds somewhere between 3.5 and 5.0 depending on state policy. Scores above 5.5 are uncommon and reflect highly experienced, well-organized providers.

Is the ASFCC the same as the FCCERS?

No. The ASFCC measures program administration: business practices, policies, professional development, and documentation. The Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS) measures the quality of the physical environment, care routines, and interactions children directly experience. They are complementary tools that many states use together to get a fuller picture of family child care quality.

Can a low ASFCC score cause a provider to lose their license?

No. The ASFCC is a quality assessment tool, not a licensing inspection. Low scores do not trigger license revocation or regulatory enforcement. They can affect QRIS tier placement, which in some states affects subsidy reimbursement rates, access to quality improvement grants, and visibility on state referral websites.

How long does an ASFCC assessment take?

A full ASFCC assessment typically takes two to three hours. The assessor visits the home, reviews documents such as policies, contracts, and training records, observes the environment, and may interview the provider. Having all documentation organized and accessible before the visit usually keeps the time closer to two hours.

Which subscales do family child care providers most often score low on?

Research using the ASFCC shows that providers most often score lower on child assessment, leadership and advocacy, and curriculum subscales. Health and safety and family partnerships tend to score higher because those areas overlap more with licensing requirements. The lower-scoring areas often reflect gaps in documentation rather than gaps in actual practice.

Do I need to buy a published curriculum to score well on the ASFCC curriculum subscale?

No. The ASFCC curriculum subscale does not require a commercial packaged curriculum. It requires that you have a documented, intentional approach to planning activities that supports children's development and connects to your state's early learning standards. Many providers already practice this informally and just need to write it down to meet the item criteria.

How do states use the ASFCC in QRIS systems?

States that include the ASFCC in their QRIS typically use it as one component of a provider's quality tier rating. Higher ASFCC scores contribute to higher tier placements, which often carry higher subsidy reimbursement rates. Assessors must complete formal training through the McCormick Center before conducting scores for official QRIS rating purposes.

Is the ASFCC used for home daycare or center-based daycare?

The ASFCC is designed specifically for licensed or registered family child care homes, meaning programs run out of a provider's residence. The equivalent tool for center-based programs is the Program Administration Scale (PAS), also created by Talan and Bloom. Using the wrong tool for the setting produces unreliable results.

Where can I buy the ASFCC instrument?

The ASFCC is published by New Horizons through the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University. You can order it directly through the McCormick Center's website. The instrument book costs roughly $25 to $35 and includes all items, anchor descriptors, scoring sheets, and administration guidance.

How often should a family child care provider be assessed with the ASFCC?

Coaching programs and QRIS systems typically reassess providers every 12 to 18 months. Annual reassessment is common in active coaching relationships because it gives enough time for providers to implement changes but stays short enough to keep momentum. Some states require reassessment when a provider applies to move to a higher QRIS tier.

Does the ASFCC cover health and safety requirements?

Yes, but not as a substitute for a licensing inspection. The ASFCC's health and safety subscale covers written illness exclusion policies, medication administration practices, and emergency plans. A score of 3 on this subscale generally reflects compliance with typical licensing standards; scores of 5 and 7 reflect more detailed written policies and practices beyond the minimum required.

Does CCDF require states to use the ASFCC?

No. The Child Care and Development Fund rules require that states using CCDF funds for quality improvement use research-based quality assessment tools, but states choose which tools to adopt. The ASFCC qualifies as a research-based tool for family child care settings. Some states use it, others use the FCCERS alone, and some use both.

Sources

1. McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, National Louis University. Talan TN and Bloom PJ. Administration Scale for Family Child Care, 2nd ed. New Horizons, 2009.: The ASFCC (2009) contains 47 items across 10 subscales, scored on a 1-7 scale, developed by Talan and Bloom at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.
2. National Association for Family Child Care, Accreditation Standards: Higher administrative quality in family child care is associated with providers holding credentials such as the CDA and participating in ongoing professional development.
3. Child Care Aware of America, State Child Care Facts and QRIS data: As of 2024, 40 states and the District of Columbia operate some form of QRIS for child care programs.
4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Care. Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Program Final Rule, 45 CFR Part 98: CCDF rules require states using funds for quality improvement to use research-based quality assessment tools for participating providers.
5. Illinois ExceleRate Illinois QRIS Framework, Gateways to Opportunity: Illinois's QRIS framework incorporates administration quality assessment criteria for home-based providers in quality tier ratings.
6. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Office of Child Care, CCDF Policy: States with QRIS programs that receive CCDF quality improvement funds must use research-grounded quality assessment processes for participating providers.
7. National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), Quality in Early Childhood Programs: Structural quality features including provider credentials, professional development participation, and documented policies are associated with process quality in early childhood programs.
8. Talan TN, Bloom PJ. Program Administration Scale (PAS), 2nd ed. Teachers College Press, 2011.: The Program Administration Scale (PAS) by Talan and Bloom is the parallel instrument for center-based child care, distinct from the ASFCC which was built from scratch for home settings.
9. Child Care and Development Fund, 45 CFR Parts 98 and 99, Federal Register Vol. 81, No. 190: The 2016 CCDF final rule increased requirements for states to implement quality rating and improvement systems and use research-based assessment approaches.