QRIS (Quality Rating and Improvement System) is a program designed to award ratings to early childhood education centers that meet its clearly defined standards. If you are a child care provider who is participating in your state’s quality rating and improvement system, this means that you are committed to continuous improvement when it comes to the quality of care you provide.
Is Your Child Care Facility Participating In Your State’s QRIS?
Each State develops its own quality rating and improvement system, typically using well-established childcare licensing standards as the starting point of the system. From this base, higher levels of quality standards are built. A QRIS usually contains two or more levels beyond the minimums for licensing, each with incremental progression towards the highest level of childcare quality defined by the State. However, each State will vary in terms of the number of levels and standards outlined in each level.
Your State’s QRIS program may encourage participation from preschools and child care centers by offering technical assistance and support in conducting reviews and establishing improvement plans. Financial incentives may also be offered to participants to maintain quality standards and encourage ongoing improvement in the future.
What Does This Mean For Your Preschool?
Your preschool may apply to become rated by your State’s QRIS by submitting supporting documentation that demonstrates your child care facility’s achievement of the necessary quality standards. As you become part of your State’s program, you will follow a streamlined set of guidelines that are connected to helpful resources, support and financial incentives that assist you in achieving and exceeding all required quality levels.
How Will the Quality Rating and Improvement System Benefit You?
As more and more child care programs adopt the QRIS rating system, parents will increasingly use it as a tool to identify which programs are high quality and compare the preschool programs that they are considering for their child. Therefore, it’s essential that your preschool considers whether the Quality Rating and Improvement System is a good fit.
Additionally, participating in your State’s QRIS program will of course, allow you to provide a higher level of care to children during the most important developmental years of their lives. With a focus on improving engagement and communication with parents, providing safe and healthy environments, developing an outstanding curriculum and more, following a QRIS can help you achieve top quality in all respects.
For more information on QRIS and how it will impact your child care center, visit the QRIS National Learning Network.
To learn more about QRIS and how it will impact your preschool, subscribe to HiMama Blog. In upcoming posts, we’ll explore how QRIS impacts your business and how it can benefit you and the children you provide care for.
