Early Education for All applauds EEC Board action on quality rating
State House News Service, News Release from Early Education for All, March 10, 2010

BOSTON (March 10, 2010) - The Early Education for All Campaign applauds the Board of Early Education and Care for moving forward at yesterday's meeting to establish a Quality Rating and Improvement System. Massachusetts is one of 29 states in the process of developing a QRIS to assess the quality of early education and care programs, provide incentives for programs to improve quality, and communicate this important information with parents. Another 19 states and the District of Columbia have already implemented a QRIS. Yesterday's board action puts Massachusetts in a better position to compete for grants from the federal Early Learning Challenge Fund, an unprecedented initiative now pending in Congress that would award $1 billion a year to help states develop and maintain high-quality early learning systems.
"The Board of Early Education and Care has taken an important step toward creating a comprehensive system of high-quality early education in Massachusetts," said EEA Campaign Director Amy O'Leary. "By focusing on quality, we prepare our youngest children for school and build a strong foundation for their academic achievement and lifelong success."
The EEC board set aside $4 million in critical financial support to programs that enroll in QRIS this fiscal year. Each participating site is eligible for grants of up to $10,000 to be used to improve program quality. "We hope programs now take advantage of these financial incentives to develop improvement plans and join QRIS," O'Leary said.
QRIS provides key benefits to providers, parents and the commonwealth by:
o      Establishing early education program standards;
o      Providing financial and other supports for programs' to improve quality;
o      Monitoring programs and evaluating outcomes; and
o      Sharing information with parents to aid their decision-making.

Early Education for All, the signature campaign of Strategies for Children, works to ensure that all young children in Massachusetts have access to high-quality early education and care.