Nursing homes are rated. Medical care is evaluated. Colleges are ranked.

And now parents comparing day cares and preschools in Nicollet and Blue Earth counties have a system to help them choose care for their children.

Parent Aware is a welcome project for parents who want a day care that provides quality care as well as specializes in preschool curriculum that will prepare children for kindergarten.

The $6 million program is just a year old, and Blue Earth and Nicollet counties are lucky to be among the handful of areas in the state selected for the pilot project. (Only North Minneapolis, St. Paul and Wayzata are also in the program.)

The system is a good way to encourage parents to seek out high-quality care that will ultimately help their children succeed. Early childhood research indicates the bulk of brain development occurs by age 5.

As part of the program, parents whose income qualifies can apply for and receive child-care vouchers through the Minnesota Valley Action Council — worth up to $4,000 a year — but can only redeem them at facilities that have earned a three- or four-star Parent Aware rating.

Even those families whose income is too high to qualify for aid can benefit by checking the Parent Aware Web site (www.parentawareratings.org) to review how local child-care centers are rated by the program. Many of the facilities are still in the process of being evaluated, but Golden Heart Child Care Center, The Children’s House and Mankato Head Start (for low-income families) have all received the top four-star rating.

Child-care centers earn that rating by submitting to a lengthy review process, which includes on-site observation and curriculum review. Besides evaluating teaching materials, safety of the facility and the tracking of how children progress, the process looks at communication between the teachers and the parents, a key element because raising a child is a team effort.

For many parents, finding a day care or preschool for their little one is as stressful as sending them off to kindergarten that first day. Helping parents find quality care is a helpful tool. If this pilot program is successful, parents across the state may someday have the help they need to get their children on the right track to a lifetime of exploration and learning.