Methodology
How Canary grades work
Last updated: September 30, 2026
Every Canary grade is calculated the same way, from the same public state records, for every licensed Texas provider. No provider can pay to change its grade. This page explains the data, the formula, what a grade can and cannot tell you, and how to request a correction.
1. Where the data comes from
- Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) child care licensing data, published on the state's open data portal (data.texas.gov): provider details, license status, inspection counts, deficiencies by risk level, corrective and adverse actions, and the narrative description of each violation.
- Google Maps Platform for map locations and, where shown, business ratings. Google ratings are displayed for context and are not part of the grade.
Canary refreshes violation records and incident categories monthly. Each provider page links to the official HHSC inspection and compliance history so you can read the source yourself.
2. The base score: four components, 100 points
| Component | Points | How it is scored |
|---|---|---|
| Violation severity | 40 | Each violation is weighted by the state's own risk level (High 8, Medium-High 5, Medium 3, Medium-Low 1.5, Low 0.5). The total is divided by the number of inspections and dampened with a square root, so one bad visit does not erase years of good ones. |
| Clean track record | 25 | Providers with inspections and no violations earn all 25 points. Otherwise the score reflects violations per inspection, with more credit for a longer inspection history. |
| Corrective and adverse actions | 20 | Starts at 20. A corrective action on file subtracts 8; an adverse action subtracts 15; the component cannot go below zero. |
| License standing | 15 | An active license earns 10, not being temporarily closed earns 5, and conditions on the permit subtract 5. |
A provider with no recorded inspections yet receives neutral values (25 of 40 for severity and 12 of 25 for track record) so it is neither rewarded nor penalized for being new.
3. What happened to children counts more
The state's risk level describes the rule that was broken, not always what happened. A missing policy document can be rated High while a caregiver hitting a child is rated lower. So Canary reads the state's narrative for each violation and assigns one incident category, then subtracts an incident penalty from the base score.
| Category | Examples | Penalty (last 2 years) |
|---|---|---|
| Direct harm | Physical harm, prohibited punishment, injury | 5 points each |
| Child left care unsupervised | A child leaving the facility or being left behind | 5 points each |
| Neglect | Failure to feed or change a child, unsafe sleep, a child left alone | 3 points each |
| Unsafe environment | Accessible hazards, missing safety equipment | 2 points each |
| Supervision | Inadequate supervision or ratio violations | 1 point each |
| Procedural | Paperwork, policies, training records | No incident penalty (still counted in severity above) |
- Incidents older than two years count one third as much, so a problem that was fixed years ago fades.
- These violations already count once in the severity score, so the incident penalty is a smaller extra weight, capped at 20 points total. One isolated incident moves a grade, it does not sink it.
- Pattern cap: two or more separate direct-harm or unsupervised-child incidents (on different days) within a single year (any rolling 12-month window) limit the grade to C or lower. One serious incident moves the grade, it never triggers the cap.
- For the incident weights, "last two years" is measured from the correction or verification date in the state record, because the public dataset does not include the citation date.
4. Grade bands
| Grade | Score | Label |
|---|---|---|
| A | 85 to 100 | Excellent |
| B | 70 to 84 | Good |
| C | 55 to 69 | Fair |
| D | 40 to 54 | Needs improvement |
| F | Below 40 | Concerning |
5. What a grade can and cannot tell you
A grade summarizes a provider's inspection record. It cannot measure warmth, teaching quality, staff turnover, cleanliness on the day you visit, or anything the state did not observe or record. Use it to decide which questions to ask and which records to read, then visit.
Known limitations:
- Incident categories come from automated keyword matching of the state's text. They can be wrong in either direction. The state's original wording is always shown beside the category, and we are validating the classifier against a hand-coded sample of violations.
- Canary shows the state record as published; errors in that record carry through until the state corrects them.
- Monthly refreshes mean recent inspections may not appear yet.
- Grades are comparable across Texas providers only. Other states will be calibrated before launch.
6. Questions and corrections
Providers and parents can ask us to review a grade or a category. Email info@journeyanalytic.com with the subject "Canary correction request," the provider name and license number, and what you believe is wrong.
- We acknowledge requests within 5 business days.
- We check the item against the current HHSC record and our classification.
- If Canary made an error (for example, a misclassified incident), we correct it, usually within 14 days, and log the change.
- If the state record itself is wrong, the provider should ask HHSC to correct it; Canary updates at the next refresh after HHSC does.
We do not remove accurate public records or change grades in exchange for payment or advertising.
7. Changes to this method
When we change the formula, weights or categories, we update this page and its date so grades can always be traced to the method that produced them. See also our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.