Every licensed facility on DaycareAlert is scored on the same 1.0–5.0 scale, computed from the licensing, inspection, and violation records its state publishes. We don't collect payments for placement, we don't let providers edit their history, and we recompute ratings as states release new records.
Violations are weighted by what actually happened
A violation is not a violation is not a violation. Each finding is classified by its content — what the inspector actually wrote — and weighted accordingly:
Critical — Cuts a rating deeply
Abuse or neglect findings, children left unsupervised or unattended, unsafe-sleep/SIDS violations, background-check failures, drowning or serious-injury findings, physical punishment.
High — Significant impact
Staff-to-child ratio and group-size violations, medication errors, sanitation and contamination problems, fire-safety and emergency-preparedness failures, transport/car-seat violations, hazards on the premises.
Medium — Moderate impact
Missing staff training or CPR/first-aid certification, immunization record gaps, food handling issues, hygiene and diapering procedure violations.
Administrative — Barely moves the score
Paperwork and filing findings: missing forms or signatures, late reports, postings not displayed, record-keeping and documentation gaps. A center whose only findings are administrative stays at roughly 4.5 stars or above.
Each finding is also blended with the risk level the state itself assigned, so a state inspector's judgment and the finding's content both count.
Recent history matters most
The rating is built only from findings recorded in the last nine months. Older findings stay on the facility page so you can read the full history, but they no longer move the score. That keeps the number about the facility as it operates today, not about an inspection from two years ago — and it means a facility that has cleaned up its record shows it quickly, while one with recent serious findings can't hide behind a good year. Repeated critical findings inside the window carry an extra penalty, because a pattern is exactly what a parent most needs surfaced.
Fixing problems counts
Violations corrected at inspection — fixed while the inspector was standing there — count less than uncorrected ones. Responsiveness is what a parent wants to see. And every clean year after a facility's last finding earns part of the score back: records recover, they aren't life sentences.
The top is earned
A clean, brand-new facility starts around 4.3 — not 5.0, because an absence of history isn't proof of excellence. Years of licensed operation with a clean record push that toward 4.6. The last stretch to 5.0 is only reachable with verified parent reviews on top of a clean record. Any violation history caps a facility below the clean band, and a facility with no reviews is never penalized for the absence of reviews.
What the score means
4.9–5.0 — spotless over many years, with strong verified reviews
4.6–4.9 — clean record, or only minor/older issues
4.0–4.5 — some violation history worth reading
Below 4.0 — a notable pattern of violations; read the record closely
What we don't do
No facility can pay to raise its rating, remove a violation, or suppress its page. Paid placements on the site (advertising, sponsorships) are always labeled and never touch the score or the ranking. The rating reflects the official record — that's why you can trust it.
Ratings are a starting point, not a verdict: records can lag, and no score replaces a visit. Read the facility's full violation history on its page, and see where our data comes from.