In the news

It was a busy week for Parent Aware and the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation. Stories appeared in both the StarTribune and the Pioneer Press about the progress Parent Aware is making in helping to connect low income families to quality child care. A great editorial was also published in the StarTribune. The MELF was also highlighted in an article describing the economic investment needed for early care and education.

Expanding Parent Aware, a quality rating system for child care providers, to be state wide is a key piece of Ready 4 K's agenda of helping kids start kindergarten ready for learning success. Stay tuned as we head into the election season for questions to ask candidates on how they plan to get kids ready.

photo by pragmagraphr

Look to the Stars: Quality Rating Systems in Early Childhood

Ready 4 K has promoted and many states are implementing Quality Rating Systems for early learning providers, much like hotel or restaurant ratings. According to NAEYC, there are 32 states (including the District of Columbia) that have implemented some form of a Quality Rating System (*** see comments for update). In Minnesota, our QRS is called Parent Aware Ratings and it’s being piloted in a few targeted areas by the Minnesota Early Learning Fund (MELF). The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has a column from 2007 about the expansion of quality ratings around the country.

Ratings are important because they help families to quickly know the level of quality a program provides. With a quick snapshot, parents know what type of care their children are receiving and the quality of that care. Ratings also provide a framework for allowing resources to flow to programs to help them improve and sustain their quality. and a rating system can lead to improvements to the quality of all the programs in a given area.

Rating systems vary by state. In Minnesota, we have a 4 star system that looks at how the program uses family partnerships, teaching materials and strategies, track learning progress, teacher training and education, and child safety. Programs are rated in each of the five areas and then are given a composite score of 1-4 stars. When programs are rated as one or two stars, they are eligible to work with resource personnel to help them improve their quality and be able to be rated again in the future.

Currently, the ratings are being piloted in just four areas: St Paul, North Minneapolis, Wayata School District, and Blue Earth and Nicollet counties. Visit the Parent Aware Ratings site for more information.

Do you work in a program that has participated in a Quality Rating System? What was it like? As a parent, how would a rating system be most helpful for you?

photo by barnabywasson

Quality Facilities Lead to Quality Programs

In Minnesota, this is a bonding year at the legislature. Traditionally, this is the session when the legislature looks at passing money to build infrastructure such as public buildings, roads and of course bridges.

As part of our 2008 Legislative Agenda, Ready 4 K has worked in partnership with First Children’s Finance to increase state dollars for early childhood facilities through the Early Childhood Facilities Grant Program.

As a sign of the need around the state, in a recent Request for Proposals for this funding from the Department of Human Services, there were requests for twice the amount of the available funds. Earlier this session, thanks to the leadership of the Legislature, resources for the Early Childhood Facilities Grant program were increased from $500,000 to $2 million. However, the governor line-item vetoed these dollars. He cited that bonding proposals should come directly from the local communities, rather than through the grant program, even though the program has been in place for over 15 years and has helped to build 56 sites statewide totaling $13 million.

Click here to see our current action alert, asking you to call Legislative Leadership to ask them to include early childhood facilities dollars in the next round of the bonding bill.

If you’re interested in learning more about why public support for facilities are an important part of building a quality early learning system, check out this archived conference call from Pre-K Now, recorded in March 2008, Early Education Facilities: Buildings that Maximize Program Quality. This call featured presentations by David Wasch from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority, Molly Munger from the Advancement Project, and Hon. Beth Bye a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. You can listen to the entire call and view slides and materials directly from the web page.

The key point of the call and the reason Ready 4 K is promoting early childhood facilities bonding dollars is that quality facilities lead to quality programs. If you are interested in learning about what a quality facility looks like, I recommend viewing the slide presentation Beth Bye shared during the call.

What do you think? Do you have experience with designing or building early childhood facilities? How has the facility impacted your program?

photo by momboleum