Quality Improvement
It is critical that states create and support strategies that drive continuous improvement in quality of early childhood services and their delivery.
States are doing this through the creation of Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) for early care and education settings and engagement in continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes. When engaging it quality improvement efforts, it is critical that attention is paid to the unique needs of infants, toddlers, and their families.
Featured Resources
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Series
Supporting Babies Through Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS)
Supporting Babies Through QRIS is a series of documents developed by ZERO TO THREE’s Policy Center to help ensure that Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) are supporting the unique developm…
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Webinar
Supporting Babies Through QRIS Webinar
This webinar presented ZERO TO THREE’s newly created Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) self-assessment tool and discussed ways to help states and jurisdictions identify QRIS components th…
Explore All Resources
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Article
Pennsylvania Revises Quality Rating and Improvement System
Pennsylvania recently completed an 18-month process to update Keystone STARS, the state’s quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), to make it more flexible while maintaining rigor.
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Article
Quality Rated, Georgia's Quality Rating and Improvement System
Georgia launched a voluntary quality rating and improvement system in January 2012 with the expectation that 700 child care programs would begin participating in the first year.
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Article
Mississippi Building Blocks Program
As of 2016, Mississippi Building Blocks worked with 29 centers across the state, and over 500 early childhood programs in 31 counties have benefitted from free equipment, a research-based curriculum,…
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Article
Minnesota Builds an Early Childhood Mental Health System of Care
State leaders in Minnesota are building an early childhood mental health system that connects evidence to practice, training, and policy.
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Article
Kansas Initiative for Developmental Screening Aims to Build Community Capacity and Solutions
In July 2015, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment with the Center for Public Partnerships and Research at the University of Kansas released a website and online toolkit aimed at strengthe…
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Article
Hawaii Is at the Forefront of Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Child Welfare
Learn how the state is focusing on training of staff and foster parents demonstrates a commitment to the very youngest vulnerable children.
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Article
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Article
Better Baby Care Indiana Training Programs
Better Baby Care Indiana is a statewide initiative to promote the healthy development of infants, toddlers, and their families.
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Article
Delaware Provides Financial Incentives to Child Care Providers Serving Infants
Read this brief summary of the full report, "Modeling Quality Costs for Delaware Stars: Report on the Program Cost of Quality."
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Article
Colorado Legislature Strengthens Child Care System
In recent years the Colorado legislature has taken several steps to improve the accessibility of high quality child care in the state.
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Article
In California, the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program has been a catalyst for collaborative planning and systems building across programs serving young children and t…
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Article
California Statewide Screening Collaborative
Learn about California's collaborative effort to increase the use of standardized developmental screening tools and referral into early intervention services for all young children.
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Article
California Approves $190 Million to Support Early Childhood System-Building Initiative
Here's how California is strengthening family engagement, investing in the early childhood workforce, and supporting local Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS).
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Tool
Guam's MIECHV Program: Project Bisita I Familia
Resource information on state policies and initiatives that impact infants, toddlers and their families
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Article
Washington Budget Includes Big Wins for Infants and Toddlers
In June 2015, Washington passed a two-year state budget that included a $6.18 million increase for home visiting.
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Article
South Carolina MIECHV Aligns Sustainability and Systems Integration with One Another
The Childrens Trust of South Carolina is South Carolinas Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) grantee.
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Article
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Article
Oklahoma MIECHV Centralizes Intake
Oklahoma's Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) team prioritizes centralized intake in its collaboration, planning, and system-building efforts.
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Article
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Article
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Missouri
"T.E.A.C.H. MISSOURI (Teacher Education And Compensation Helps) is an educational scholarship opportunity for early childhood providers in licensed child care center-based, group-based and family chi…
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Article
STARS for KIDS NOW- The Childcare Quality Rating System
STARS for KIDS NOW is Kentucky's voluntary quality rating system for licensed Type I and Type II child care centers and certified family child care homes.
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Article
Ohio Created an Early Education and Development Officer Position in 2011
To coordinate state efforts to improve children's readiness for school, Ohio Governor John Kasich created an Early Education and Development Officer position within the Governors Office of 21st Centu…
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Article
In early May 2008, former New Jersey Governor John S. Corzine signed into law paid family-leave legislation (A873), taking a major step forward in supporting the states working families. The legislat…
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Article
Nebraska Incorporates iPad Technology in MIECHV Home Visits
The Nebraska Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (N-MIECHV) programs in Nebraska, including the Nebraska Panhandle region, metro areas of Lincoln and Omaha, rural counties in both nort…
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Article
Missouri's MIECHV Team Implements Plan To Address Domestic Violence
Missouri's Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) team is comprised of the Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Parents as Teachers and the Early Head Start Home Based Option.
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Article
Look for the STARS Quality Rating System
"Look for the STARS" is a five-level quality rating improvement system (QRIS) designed by New Mexicos Office of Child Development under the Child, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) to help parents…
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Article
Growing Futures Early Childhood Rating and Improvement System Pilot
In November 2009, Lakes & Prairies Child Care Resource and Referral received a grant from United Way of Cass-Clay and the Fargo-Moorehead Area Foundation to implement a pilot Early Childhood Quality …
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Article
Minnesota Takes Steps to Align the Child Care Assistance Program and Head Start/Early Head Start
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) have improved coordination between the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and Head Start/Early Head Star…
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Article
Massachusetts' Review of Child Care System Leads to Recommendations for Improvement
In 2014, Massachusetts conducted a thorough study of the state’s subsidized child care system in order to more efficiently and effectively manage the provision of child care services.
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Article
California's Locally Driven QRIS
Due, in part, to regional diversity and the importance of local control over improvement processes, California implemented a unique Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) approach that built upon t…
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Article
In 2005, Rhode Island Kids Count brought partners together to begin the conversation about creating a QRIS in the state.
Taking on the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge
Explore how each state is using the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge as an opportunity to create new and effective early childhood systems.
Expanding Access to Early Head Start (EHS)
Learn how each state is taking action to expand access to head start for more infants, toddlers and their families.
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Article
Expanding Quality (EQ) in Infant/Toddler Care
Learn how the EQ initiative provides training, technical assistance, and support for three primary components.
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Tool
State Initiatives to Expand Early Head Start
This webinar featured the findings from a joint report entitled Expanding Access to Early Head Start: State Initiatives for Infants and Toddlers at Risk and highlighted two states’ efforts to expand …
