Orange County AEYC

    OrangeCountyAEYCPhoto.pngOrange County AEYC

    QualityStart OC hosted the Excellence in Early Care and Education Awards on Saturday, May 21, 2016 at the Costa Mesa Hilton. Early childhood professionals throughout the county were recognized by various agencies for their contributions to high quality early learning in Orange County.

    • The Orange County Association for the Education of Young Children (OCAEYC) presented the Alma Green Grant to Elena Douglas, the Barbara Hartman Grant to Ghazal Forouzan, and the Leonor Wilson Grant to Donna Long. The 2016 OCAEYC Outstanding Early Childhood Education Professional awardees were Anabelle Garcia-Chak, Anne Herzog, Alycia McInnish and Jill Saito.
    • The Orange County Child Care and Development Planning Council awarded the Early Education Outstanding Advocate of the Year award to Jennifer Burrell and recognized California State Preschool teachers who completed an associates or bachelor’s degree under the Early Education Career Incentive program.
    • The Orange County Department of Education Early Education and Support Services recognized the school districts and agencies whose preschools participated in the Child Signature Program, the preschools and family child care homes that achieved a Five Star rating on the Quality Stars QRIS, and the teachers who completed a professional development series under the CARES Plus grant. Also recognized by CARES Plus and Children’s Home Society of California was Pam Yates, who received an award for Outstanding Leadership.

    QualityStart OC is a community partnership, led by the Orange County Department of Education, focused on aligning county efforts to support high-quality early learning experiences for children. QualityStart OC supports closing the readiness gap by focusing on four key areas:

    • Raising community awareness of the importance of investing in high-quality early learning;
    • Supporting educators and care providers with training and other assistance to improve the quality of their programs;
    • Operating “Quality Stars,” a Quality Rating and Improvement System for early learning settings (such as preschools) in Orange County; and
    • Supporting parents seeking early learning experiences for their children by providing a directory of resources, access to quality rating scores and information on how to choose a quality program.