It is our responsibility as an early childhood professional to work to strengthen the quality of early learning programs. High-quality early care and education has a positive impact on school readiness, school success, and long-term social and economic outcomes. Currently there is a national movement to support early educators in implementing high-quality practices, as teacher quality is the most important factor affecting child outcomes. State-wide Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) hold promise for offering a systemic, coordinated approach to improving quality (QRIS, n.d). Educators need to be open to be a part of these programs and by taking in the information and make changes where they are needed.
In my own experience I have seen barriers when our program decided to go with QRIS because there were changes that needed to happen to make our program meet the standards. I think educating the staff members to help them understand how being a part of quality improvement can benefit the system as a whole. When it comes to program evaluations it is essential everyone is on the same page and understands exactly what needs to be done and why.
I believe you can minimize the barrier by having very open communication and meeting often as a group to discuss the results of an evaluation and how change can happen to raise the quality of the program to the next level.
Reference
Homepage: QRIS National Learning Network |. (n.d.). Retrieved August 04, 2020, from https://qrisnetwork.org/
