Great START Program Statistics

The Great START program has successfully completed nine years of helping early care and education practitioners in Illinois. The program has two goals: to increase education levels of practitioners as well as to decrease the turnover rate of practitioners in the field.

The turnover rate within the Great START program is a low 13%, as compared to the overall early childhood professional’s turnover rate of 30%. More and more practitioners are returning to school to increase their knowledge in early care and education and Great START is helping them achieve that goal. These actions speak positively to the commitment of Great START recipients to achieve higher standards and provide high quality care for children and families in Illinois.

Great START Statistics

Since program implementation in April 2001:

• Over 11,000 eligible practitioners have received at least one supplement, averaging $1,600.00 annually per recipient.
  
  
• Eighty-six percent of the eligible practitioners are employed in child care centers, while 14% own and operate a family child care or group home child care business.
  
  
• Seventy-seven percent of the total practitioners have an associate’s degree or higher, with at least 15 semester hours in Early Childhood/Child Development courses.
  
  
• Ninety-nine out of 102 counties have had at least one Great START recipient since program inception.