Daycares in Indiana

Indiana scores licensed daycares through Paths to QUALITY (PTQ), the state's quality rating program. Paths to QUALITY rates providers through four sequential Levels, with Level 4 reflecting the strictest standards. The four Levels build from health and safety, to a supportive learning environment, to curriculum, to national accreditation.

Indiana's minimum legal requirements for adult-to-child ratios, group sizes, and staff qualifications mostly fall below the standards published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the leading professional accreditation body for early-childhood programs and the most widely cited benchmark for high- quality care. Indiana caps infant ratios at 1:5 (effective December 1, 2025), looser than NAEYC's recommended 1:3 to 1:4. Toddler ratios are 1:5 (12-24 months) and 1:9 (30-36 months), while NAEYC's toddler range is 1:3 to 1:6 depending on age and group size. Indiana's preschool ratios are 1:11 for 3-year-olds and 1:13 for 4-year-olds, while NAEYC recommends 1:9 or better for 3-year-olds and 1:10 or better for 4- and 5-year-olds. Indiana's infant group-size cap is 12 (effective December 1, 2025), above NAEYC's recommended 8. Toddler groups cap at 14-17 (NAEYC's toddler ceiling is 12 across the 21-36 month range). Preschool groups can reach 25 for 3-year-olds, 29 for 4-year-olds, and 31 for 5-and-older (NAEYC: 20). For a lead caregiver in a licensed center, Indiana requires at least a current CDA credential, an associate's degree in early childhood education, or a bachelor's degree in ECE or with 15 ECE credit hours; a high school diploma alone is not enough. NAEYC's professional standard is a bachelor's degree. Pre-service training for lead teachers is not set in state rule, and required ongoing professional development is 12 hours per year, well below the 25 hours we recommend.

These minimum legal requirements apply to every licensed daycare in Indiana, regardless of its Paths to QUALITY Level. They are one of the Structural inputs in every Childery rating shown above. The rating distribution above combines that Structural input with Paths to QUALITY scores and other Process inputs to produce the Overall scores. For the full breakdown, see the Indiana methodology page.