Recovery Act Supports State QRIS Efforts

I am especially pleased to share the Child Care Bureau’s latest issue of the Child Care Helps America Work and Learn series. This issue focuses on quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS), which represent a systemic approach to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early and school-age care and education settings.

Expanding QRIS is a top priority for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and this issue provides terrific examples of how States across the country are making QRIS advancements through the timely support of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act). Thanks to the Recovery Act, States are strengthening existing systems and embarking on new ones. States also are focusing on public education and increasing provider participation in QRIS.

ACF acknowledges the positive QRIS movement, and is supporting States by investing in resources to help continue this forward momentum. For example, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation’s new report, Compendium of Quality Rating Systems and Evaluations, describes key programmatic and evaluation elements of QRIS with indepth profiles of every QRIS in the country. Also, the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center’s new online resource guide and Cost Estimation Model will further help States develop cutting-edge approaches. ACF hopes these resources will assist States as they continue promoting high-quality care for all children.

Shannon Rudisill
Associate Director
Child Care Bureau
Administration for Children and Families

QRIS Quick Facts

• There are 21 statewide QRIS that are composed of five common elements: (1) standards, (2) accountability measures, (3) program and practitioner outreach and support, (4) financial incentives, and (5) parent/consumer education efforts.
• More than 25 additional States are exploring or designing statewide QRIS.

Recovery Act Strengthens and Expands QRIS Across the Country

Recovery Act funds are providing States with groundbreaking opportunities to strengthen existing QRIS and create new statewide systems.

The Minnesota QRIS pilot project, Parent Aware, will continue through June 2011 thanks to the Recovery Act. Before these funds were available, it was scheduled to end in June 2010.

The pilot began in 2007 with funding from the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation in collaboration with other agencies. The State is conducting the pilot in four areas: the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Blue Earth/Nicollet counties, and the Wayzata School District. Those eligible to participate are child care programs licensed by the Department of Human Services and public school-based School Readiness programs and Head Start programs overseen by the State's Department of Education.

New York also is stepping up its efforts. Supported both by Recovery Act funds and private philanthropy, the State is conducting an ambitious field test of its emerging QRIS to:

• Evaluate the ease and efficiency of QUALITYstarsNY’s application, documentation, and assessment system under a variety of conditions (including geography, program setting, and child demographics);
• Validate the current standards and rating scale;
• Establish a baseline profile of program quality in the 13 field-test communities;
• Gather information about how sites plan to move up the quality ladder;
• Estimate the cost of improving from one star level to another; and
• Estimate the levels of financial incentives needed for a fully implemented system.

In addition, Washington is using the Recovery Act to continue its QRIS pilot. The State Legislature allotted $1 million in Recovery Act funds to the Department of Early Learning (DEL) for continuing the Seeds to Success pilot in five communities. Pilot sites in White Center and East Yakima are assessing QRIS coaching and professional development efforts. Clark County is testing elements of program learning environments and examining provider and child progress using various assessment tools.