Standards & Standards Alignment

This report provides a crosswalk of the NAEYC accreditation system with other accreditation/assessment systems including the American Montessori Society, Head Start, and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The purpose of the crosswalk was to compare the other systems to determine the necessity and utility of the Connecticut Preschool and Readiness Standards. While this report was done specifically for Connecticut, readers will find it helpful since it compares different accreditation/assessment systems that states should be considering in their QRIS alignment efforts.

report.pdf

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and Head Start Alignment

This paper was developed in response to the many questions which arose during the 2011 Early Learning Challenge grant planning process when applicants were asked to align and integrate Head Start into their state quality rating and improvement system. The paper outlines some of the benefits and challenges of such an alignment process and poses questions for next steps that must be taken at the federal and state level to support greater alignment efforts in the future.

QRIS Head Start Alignment.pdf

Findings from an inquiry into the collaboration between Children's Trust and Prevention Funds (CTFs) and early childhood stakeholders to develop quality rating and improvement systems, based on survey responses from stakeholders in 32 states

An analysis and research-based revision of the Massachusetts child care quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) standards

This 50-state matrix (as well as the District of Columbia) provides data on the status of states in establishing early learning guidelines and inclusion of curriculum and child assessment in standards established within their state quality rating and improvement systems.

QRIS_ELS&Curriculum&Assessment_Summary_2011draft.pdf

The QRIS Resource Guide is intended as a tool for States and communities to explore key issues and decision points during the planning and implementation of a quality rating and improvement system (QRIS).[1] The Guide is divided into eight sections. Each section contains a set of questions, with guidance for addressing the questions, for States to consider and discuss when planning, implementing, or revising a QRIS.

QRISResourceGuide.pdf

This report covers 18 months of the Minnesota Parent Aware QRIS pilot from July, 2008 through December, 2009, and is part of the process evaluation of the program.  The report addresses the supply of programs and the tuition rates charged by programs in the pilot areas, provides a synthesis of data from multiple sources to describe the number and percent of eligible programs that have enrolled in Parent Aware, their patterns of enrollment, and the star ratings received by those programs.

This document offers suggestions for the inclusion of quality indicators for infants and toddlers within Quality Rating Systems (QRS). Quality Rating Systems are being implemented in States, Tribes, and Territories to establish a means to both define and promote quality in child care settings. These rating systems include five common elements: 1) standards, 2) accountability measures, 3) program and practitioner outreach and support, 4) financial incentives, and 5) parent/consumer education. They are program-wide in scope and apply to the care of all children. (author abstract)

Report.pdf

This report describes the Early Childhood Initiative, which was developed to strengthen families through quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS). The purpose of the work is to embed the Strengthening Families Protective Factor (SF/PF) Framework into all systems that touch the lives of young children and their families.