Thursday, December 01, 2005
The Minnesota Quality Rating System...
Yesterday, I started discussing the Minnesota Quality Rating System or QRS as it is commonly known. The proposed QRS for Minnesota will be voluntary and open to licensed family child care providers, child care centers, Head Start programs, preschools and school age programs. The QRS will reward quality providers, provide struggling programs with incentives to improve, and provide parents with ratings on how a program performs on key indicators of quality. By linking providers to financial incentives and resources, child care and early education services as well as child outcomes will be improved.
Perhaps you are in favor of the QRS, maybe you have not yet heard of the it... or you have heard of it but are very apprehensive about it. Either way, there are some key facts that you should know about the QRS as it is currently being proposed...
Meanwhile, to find out more information about the proposed QRS, I have posted a QRS page on the TKW Consulting website. Check it out and feel free to ask me any questions. I may not know the answer, but I can either find out or point you in the right direction.
Yesterday, I started discussing the Minnesota Quality Rating System or QRS as it is commonly known. The proposed QRS for Minnesota will be voluntary and open to licensed family child care providers, child care centers, Head Start programs, preschools and school age programs. The QRS will reward quality providers, provide struggling programs with incentives to improve, and provide parents with ratings on how a program performs on key indicators of quality. By linking providers to financial incentives and resources, child care and early education services as well as child outcomes will be improved.
Perhaps you are in favor of the QRS, maybe you have not yet heard of the it... or you have heard of it but are very apprehensive about it. Either way, there are some key facts that you should know about the QRS as it is currently being proposed...
- The QRS will be VOLUNTARY and open to ANY center – including for profit, non profit, and religiously sponsored programs - licensed family child care providers, preschools and school age programs. THE QRS IS NOT REQUIRED BY THE STATE.
- Parents requesting QRS information will receive the program ratings and the child development outcomes research on which the QRS indicators are based.
- The QRS, DOES NOT REQUIRE A CURRICULUM. Accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) DOES NOT REQUIRE USING THE ANTI-BIAS CURRICULUM BOOK referred to by EdWatch. Hundreds of religiously based programs are accredited through the NAEYC. There are hundreds of recommended books and curriculums that programs refer to in designing their program.
- The QRS builds on Minnesota’s licensing requirements and uses a building block design for programs to reach higher levels of quality.
- The QRS builds on the current MN standards for school readiness (The Early Childhood Indicators of Progress) and the professional guidelines for teachers/providers (The Core Competencies).
- The QRS will provide technical assistance, training supports, and improvement grants for participating programs to improve their quality.
- The QRS will involve program self study, documentation of the indicators, and on-site observations.
- The QRS will ensure the validity and reliability of the on-site observations and program ratings.
- The QRS will award annual performance bonuses to all participating programs in Levels 2 – 4 based on their rating and program size.
- The QRS will provide accountability for school readiness outcomes for private and public investments in child care programs that provide quality care and opportunities for learning.
Meanwhile, to find out more information about the proposed QRS, I have posted a QRS page on the TKW Consulting website. Check it out and feel free to ask me any questions. I may not know the answer, but I can either find out or point you in the right direction.
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 7:42 PM 
