Early Care and Education Program Assessment

 All programs enrolled in Quality First participate in a process of program assessment. This process is conducted by an individual trained in early childhood program assessment activities and includes observations of the various settings in which children receive care.

The purpose of assessment is not to find problems or to report non-compliance to other agencies. Instead, the purpose is to identify a program’s strengths and areas where improvements would raise overall program quality. Once completed, the assessment information is used by a Quality First coach to support the provider in developing a quality improvement plan.

FAQ’s

Q: How is my program assessed?
A: The assessment includes two areas of quality: Environment and Adult-Child  Interactions. The Environmental Rating Scales for preschool classrooms, infant  and toddler settings, and family child care homes (ECERS-R; ITERS-R; FCCERS-R)  will be used to measure quality of  environments. The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)  will be used to measure  the quality of adult and child interactions.

Q: When will assessment occur?
A: The first assessment will take place after the Quality First! coach holds an  orientation meeting with the program and the provider signs an enrollment  agreement. A quality improvement plan will be developed based on the results  of this assessment. A second assessment will take place once the program  has had the opportunity to implement the quality improvement plan (usually one year later).  

Q: Who sees my assessment?
A: Because the assessments are for the purpose of designing improvement plans,  they are not intended to be shared with individuals outside of the Quality First program. The only people who will see the scores are the provider, the  assessors, the coaches, and their supervisors. The assessment scores are not  made public.