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Page 13 Prior to calculating the market rates, the data were cleaned to remove any outlier values that appeared unusually high or low. Rates of zero were removed from the analysis, as well as any rate below the nominal fee cutoff of $600 per calendar year. A small number of rates that were provided in inappropriate or unusable formats were also removed from the analysis. Weekly market rates were calculated by age group for the state of Mississippi based on procedures outlined by the National Center on Subsidy Innovation and Accountability.1 Rates were calculated using five age groups that were determined by MDHS: infants (ages 0-11 months), toddlers (12-23 months), two-year-olds (24-35 months), preschoolers (3-4 years old), and school-age children (5 or more years old). Providers were able to specify their tuition rates in their preferred time units: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. Most providers (80%) provided full-time rates in a weekly format. This analysis reports market prices in a weekly format. (Monthly prices are shown in Appendix A). Therefore, prices given in other units were converted to weekly prices as follows: • Hourly prices were multiplied by 40 for full-time care • Daily prices were multiplied by 5 • Monthly prices were divided by 4.33 • Yearly prices were divided by 52.1429 The market rates were adjusted using the sampling weights described above and were also weighted by the number of slots in each age group. The number of children currently being served in each age group was used as a proxy for the number of slots. Although some market rate analyses weight rates by programs’ total licensed capacity, there can be a disparity between the capacity and the actual number of children being served. It should be noted that the results of this market rate analysis were similar regardless of whether the sampling weights were applied or whether the rates were weighted by the number of slots. 1 For additional information: https://childcareta.acf.hhs.gov/resource/market-rate-survey-series Center-based Data Analysis