Working Together to Improve Child Care Quality

1. Working Together to Improve Child Care Quality Developing a Consortium to SupportQuality Rating Improvement Systems

2. Working Together to Improve Child Care Quality: Developing a Consortium to SupportQuality Rating Improvement Systems

3. High Quality Child Care is Goodfor Children and Society • Children benefit from higher quality care • A number of studies have found significant relationships to child cognitive and social outcomes • Long term individual benefits include higher school completion rates, higher individual earnings, less delinquency • At-risk children benefit most • Society benefits in the longer term as well • Reduced crime • Lower welfare costs

4. Many States are Developing QualityRating and Improvement Systems • 36 states have tiered quality strategies with rating mechanism • 30 use QRS as basis for tiered reimbursement strategies • Already, 11 have statewide QRS • CO, DC, KY, MD, MT, NC, NM, OK, PA, TN, VT • 6 others have pilot or local QRS programs • 23 more currently exploring/designing QRS Source: NCCIC (2004), VWA (2005)

5. QRIS: National Map

6. These Quality Rating and Improvement Systems Share Some Common Elements • Voluntary participation (in all states but TN) • Federal Child Care block grant as funder (most systems) • Similar quality components • Environment assessment with standardized rating scales (ERS) • Teacher credentials and training • Accreditation / regulatory compliance • 4 or 5 rating levels (except MT and VT) • Limited operating experience (mean = 4 yrs for statewide systems)

7. Rating and Measurement Challenges • Creating efficient and cost-effective family involvement, ratio and other component measures • Developing classroom observational measures that are sensitive enough to capture teacher instructional quality and the emotional climate of the classroom • Modifying measures and processes to meet local needs • Developing cost-effective quality improvement strategies with the most “bang for buck”

8. Qualistar Has Developed a QRIS to SupportIts Mission: Improved Early Learning for Colorado’s Children • Four-star rating system identifies program strengths and weaknesses and creates a detailed action plan for continuous quality improvement • Five Components: • Learning Environment • Family Partnerships • Training and Education • Adult-to-Child Ratios / Group Size • Accreditation

9. Going to Scale 1999: Qualistar begins rating and providing quality improvement (QI) services to 30 Denver child care programs. 2006: Qualistar provides ratings and QI services to over 350 programs across the state How: • Passage of HB 1297 provides federal funding for over 200 child care programs to be rated statewide • Merger with the state-wide Resource and Referral Network provides locally based QI services to child care programs and high-quality referrals to parents • Collaborative work with foundations and local agencies to incorporate ratings into locally-based quality improvement activities. • Development of an Early Learning Fund comprised of public and private dollars to provide ratings and quality improvement activities to more child care programs

10. Improved Quality: 1999-2005 Number of 3 & 4-Star sites increasedmore than 60% from 1999-2005

11. Qualistar Early Learning Contracted with RAND Corporation to Validate Its QRIS • Public and private funding supports ratings and QI (coaching, materials) intervention • Longitudinal assessment of children aged 3-4 at initiation; refreshed sample at second and third assessments • Employment of known measures with similar goals to validate QRIS and QRIS components • Pre-Kindergarten Snapshot (Howes & Stewart, 1987) • Arnett Sensitivity Measure (Arnett,1989) • Longitudinal data permit assessment of effects of ratings improvements on child outcomes

12. Key RAND Validation Study Analyses • Analysis of QRIS components • Assessment of changes in QRIS ratings over time • Association between QRIS ratings and process measures • Relationship between QRIS ratings and child outcomes

13. RAND’s Analyses Revealed Limitsof our Knowledge about Assessment of Child Care Quality • Difficult to conduct this research in localities and states given high costs and small samples • Collaboration creates opportunities for needed empirical research on measures, QI, accountability • Lowers development cost for any single entity • Combines diverse perspectives and needs • Pooled data sets could create longitudinal databases with more statistical power • Empirical studies could capitalize on naturally occurring variation in policies, resources, and demographics This work can be best accomplished through the establishment of a multi-state Consortium

14. More Questions, Some Answers The RAND Evaluation of the Qualistar QRIS has already identified important questions facing states as they implement their own QRIS systems: • How to measure program quality given local needs and variation? • How to scale up and maintain program integrity? • What are the most cost-effective QI strategies? • What are the most cost-effective delivery systems? • How to spread effective practices broadly and deeply? • How best to adapt effective strategies to unique local conditions? • How best to blend national models and home-grown initiatives?

15. A Planning Conference was Convenedat RAND in January 2006 to Solicit Interest in a QRIS Consortium • Attended by representatives of eight states, representing approximately 35% of U.S. preschool children • Attendees agreed to pursue a collaborative planning effort focused on: • Empirical research • Shared R&D • Cost-efficient adaptation of best practices

16. Key Goals of a QRIS Consortium • Address scale-up challenges through empirical study of best practices and local implementation models • Develop and validate new measures at greatly reduced cost to each participating entity • Share database technologies, measures, and QI interventions • Enable cost efficiencies through application of common design principles across states Timing is right – QRS/accountability movementgaining visibility and policy support

17. Value of Collaborative Consortium • Per capita savings through shared R&D of measures and QI interventions • Shared technology development • Data sharing enables research into best practices across multiple contexts • Increased knowledge of “what works best;” business process sharing across states This work will reduce costs of delivering ratings and quality improvement interventions at scale

18. Since the Conference, a Proposal for a6-month Consortium Planning Granthas been Written, Reviewed and Revised with RAND Guidance • Preliminary Steering Committee has been established that includes • National groups in child care arena with background and experience in QI • Representatives of states at different stages of quality initiatives • Meetings with potential funders occurring this month

19. Assuming Successful Fundraising, the Planning Period Will Produce a Number of Useful Outcomes • Review of key studies and identification of gaps in the relevant literature • Creation of a research agenda for the Consortium • Conference to discuss a Consortium’s future • Proposal for ongoing support • Solicitation of that support