A Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for Early Care and Education Settings

1. A Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for Early Care and Education Settings

2. Increase overall quality • Recognize the quality that already exists • Improve consumer awareness • Improve training and compensation of early care professionals • Reward quality financially • Focus on continuous quality improvement • Increase access to higher quality programs for children • using child care subsidies QRIS GOALS

3. Quality Matters • Early childhood experiences set the stage for all future learning. Positive outcomes from investments in early childhood education depend on the quality of these experiences. • High quality care means that children are engaging in meaningful learning and play, guided by qualified caregivers in an enriched educational environment.

4. Definition • A quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) is a method to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early care and education settings. • QRIS is voluntary

5. Quality • Research-based • National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) developed ten criteria

6. Rating • Ratings are based on 4 performance standards • Education and professional development of staff—documentation • Interactions—CLASS • Structure and ratios—documentation • Environment and Transition Practices—Environmental Rating Scales and documentation

7. Improvement • Mentors are assigned to help the program develop and implement a quality improvement plan.

8. ystem S 2 YEAR CYCLE

9. Outcome • Children with access to high quality child care programs are more likely to acquire the skills they need to enter kindergarten ready to succeed and adapt to new learning and social environments.

10. Benefits • Observation & rating • Feedback report • Parent resources • On-site mentoring • Quality improvement plan • Quarterly goals & incentives • Access to scholarships • Networking opportunities

11. Trend 16 states and the District of Columbia have adopted a QRIS. A majority of states are in the process of exploring, designing, or piloting a QRIS.

12. Virginia Star Quality Initiative • Participation is voluntary • Rated on a 5 star scale of increasing quality • Documentation review and on-site observations by reliable and highly trained Star Quality Raters • Assessed on a biennial basis • For center-based programs; a process for home-based programs is in development • Piloted in both public and private programs in over 13 communities statewide • Rated on 4 performance standards

13. A Brief History

14. Goals of Phase I2007-2008 • Designed to test the standard, not to rate programs • Designed to test the process of rater selection, training, assignment, oversight, and reporting

15. The Goals of Phase II2008-2009 • To expand the improved rating process into more communities, rating 350 classrooms • To include toddler classrooms for a more holistic program ratings • To begin assigning stars and posting star ratings • To standardize the mentoring process across communities • Smart Beginnings/VECF agree to house the “hub” and added the VA Star Quality Initiative to their website • TTAC contributed financially to the training of raters and mentors

16. The Goals of Phase III2009-2010 • To continue to expand the rating process into more communities • To train a group of Master Star Trainers • To train more raters and mentors • Automate processes • Increase public awareness • Pilot of a standard for family child care providers

17. The Future • Pilot a rating system for family child care centers • Pilot ratings for infant classrooms • Provide funding for ratings, quality improvement and mentoring at the state level

18. Rigorous Training and Reliability • C LASS & ECERS-R • The standard • The process and procedure • Survived “rater boot camp” • Critical to avoid “drift” • Anchor raters • Buddy visits • Average of 90% reliable

19. Ratersare notMentors!

20. The Rating Process

21. The Mentoring Process

22. Participants • Private licensed child day centers (for-profit and non-profit) • Private faith-based preschools and other preschools exempt from licensure • Public programs, like the Virginia Preschool Initiative and Head Start

23. Partners • The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and the Virginia Office of Early Childhood Development work in partnership to serve as the hub and coordinate state-level activities for the Virginia Star Quality Initiative • Local early childhood coalitions or organizations work with the hub to coordinate local activities, like mentoring

24. The QRIS Standards

25. Education, Qualifications, and Training Standard 1: • Assessed by documentation • Part 1—Staff Education and Qualifications • Director • Teacher • Assistant Teacher • Part 2—Ongoing Training/Professional Development • Attending conferences • Participate in ECE association • Participate in mentoring program • Workshops • College courses

26. Standard 2: Interactions • Assessed by rater observations using the CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System) developed by the University of Virginia • Measured across 3 domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support • Weighted more than the other standards due to the strong correlation between high quality teacher-to-child and child-to-child interactions and positive child outcomes.

27. Standard 3: Structure • Assessed by documentation collected by programs • Examines maximum class sizes and child to staff ratios • Differentiated by the age of the children served, from infants to school-age children

28. Standard 4: Environment and Instructions • Assessed by rater observations using an Environment Rating Scale • Separate scales for each age group: ECERS-R or ITERS-R • Also includes documentation of transition practices which may include: • parent meetings • transfer of records • related professional development , • program orientation for families

29. Resources • Websites: http://classobservation.com/ http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ECERS/ http://smartbeginnings.org/ http://www.earlychildhood.virginia.gov/quality.html http://nrckids.org/index.html