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As November
is the month of gratitude, let’s take a moment to reflect on how much work is
taking place around the state for young children. Thousands of providers have
enrolled in Early Achievers and are working hard to provide the highest quality
possible for the children in their care; hundreds of people are working
throughout Child Care Aware of Washington, providing training, technical support
and coaching; and advocates and policy makers are adroitly studying the best
ways to support children and families through good policy. Thank you for being
a part of this effort!
Ratings Roll Out
Early
Achievers participants have begun the rating process in earnest. Many programs have been participating in Level 2 activities for months and are ready to move forward
through a ratings process that will give them valuable data about their
program. Rated programs receive individualized coaching; programs that rate at a Level 3-5 will receive a Quality Improvement Award.
The rating of
individual sites has started slowly for several reasons, including the length
of time that it takes providers to move through Level 2 requirements. The
biggest factor contributing to the delay has been anxiety, as providers were reluctant
to get rated when they felt uncertain about their rating outcome. To help alleviate these fears, DEL has
implemented several important policy changes to help reduce the pressure of rating.
Providers
who are ready to be rated must work with their Technical
Assistance Specialist at Child Care Aware of Washington prior to requesting a rating.
Cost of Quality
Early
Achievers is built to help providers improve the quality of their
programs. Providing high-quality is more
expensive, and an important part of statewide quality improvement efforts is ensuring
that quality improvements are sustained over time.
To learn more about this, Washington has
recently contracted with Anne Mitchell, a national expert at the Alliance for
Early Childhood Finance. Anne created a dynamic model for estimating
the cost of operating various types of early learning programs at the various quality
levels of Early Achievers. She then reviewed
whether Washington's current financial incentives cover the cost of high-quality
programs. The findings were presented to
the Child Care Improvements for the Future Task Force (created in Senate Bill
5595) on Oct. 23 in Walla Walla.
Key findings
from the report:
- Early
Achievers quality standards are appropriately high. Getting to Level 3 is a
notable achievement; reaching and maintaining Levels 4 and 5 is truly excellent. Both achievements should be publicly celebrated.
- To be
financially viable, providers must strive for full enrollment every day; collect tuition and fees in full and on time;
and plan appropriately to ensure their annual revenue will cover annual expenses. Many child care programs in
Washington are under-enrolled.
- Base subsidy
rates are sufficient for programs at lower levels of quality. Financial
incentives need to be carefully calibrated to incentivize centers and family home child care providers to
progress toward higher quality, rather than overly rewarding programs for
entering Early Achievers.
- Washington needs to use all of its available tools and resources to help promote and
sustain quality improvements, including subsidy policies, support for quality
improvements, and financial incentives to sustain quality.
The Cost of
Quality study to date has been based on King County (Region 4) data. Work
is underway to replicate this study in other Washington regions.
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