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| Susan Hedges |
NAEYC’s 10 Program Standards 1-Relationships 2-Curriculum 3-Teaching 4-Assessment of Child Progress 5-Health 6-Teachers 7-Families 8-Community Relationships 9-Physical Environment 10-Leadership & Management |
NAEYC and First 5 California: Recognizing Alignments – Identifying Collaboration Opportunities
In 2013, First 5 Santa Barbara County (F5SB) entered into a collaboration with NAEYC to align the California QRIS with NAEYC Accreditation process and content. Santa Barbara County has included NAEYC and NAFCC accreditation in the top tier of their QRIS matrix and has an exceptionally high NAEYC accreditation rate. NAEYC and F5SB staff collaborated to answer two important questions:
- How well does NAEYC accreditation content address the CA-QRIS elements?
- Does NAEYC’s site visit assessment process also capture what QRIS wishes to assess?
We sought to address these questions in two ways. First, a content crosswalk was conducted to provide a detailed comparison of CA-QRIS Elements and NAEYC Criteria.
Second, 10 joint site visits were conducted to do side-by-side assessments of both sets of content. The pilot assessments allowed NAEYC assessors and QRIS representatives to validate the crosswalk, by providing data about how well and how often NAEYC prepared-evidence was addressing QRIS elements in the field.
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Table 1: Crosswalk of NAEYC Content to Indicators within F5SB QRIS Elements |
QRIS Indicators Matching NAEYC Content |
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CORE I: Child Development and School Readiness |
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1. Child Observation |
2 of 4 Indicators |
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2. Developmental and Health Screenings |
5 of 5 Indicators |
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CORE II: Teachers and Teaching |
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3. Early Childhood Educator Qualifications |
5 of 5 Indicators |
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4. Effective Teacher Child Interactions |
4 of 4 Indicators |
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CORE III: Program and Environment |
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5. Licensing and Regulatory Requirements |
5 of 5 Indicators |
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6. Program Environmental Rating Scales |
4 of 4 Indicators |
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7. Director Qualifications |
5 of 5 Indicators |
Crosswalk results. Table one above shows that NAEYC content matches nearly all of California’s tiered QRIS Elements. Among QRIS Cores I through III, a total of 30 out of 32 units (that’s 94%) fully or partially matched NAEYC content.
A Field Study then explored whether evidence prepared for NAEYC accreditation (program portfolios, classroom portfolios and staff qualifications documents) can also be used to rate F5SB QRIS elements.
Programs selected for this pilot project were 10 center- or school-based programs in Santa Barbara County, serving preschool-aged children. The programs also had to be: (1) awaiting an NAEYC accreditation site visit and (2) be engaged in F5SB QRIS at the three points or higher range of the Matrix.
Table two shows that it was possible to rate five of the seven QRIS elements using documentation prepared for an NAEYC site visit. Elements four and six are not included because they are based on independent CLASS and ECERS observations, and the field study was concerned with document evidence only.
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Table 2: In how many Programs was QRIS Evidence found in NAEYC Documentation? |
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Element 1: Child Observation |
10 of 10 programs |
100% |
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Element 2: Developmental and Health Screenings |
10 of 10 programs |
100% |
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Element 3: Early Childhood Educator Qualifications |
10 of 10 programs |
100% |
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Element 5: Licensing and Regulatory Requirements |
10 of 10 programs |
100% |
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Element 7: Director Qualifications |
10 of 10 programs |
100% |
Benefits of Systems Alignment: Cost, Validity, Established Process. NAEYC has been having conversations with a number of state QRIS systems about the benefits of systems alignment. NAEYC Accreditation has a long history of managing considerations of cost-effectiveness, validity and due process. As a national system, NAEYC Accreditation is necessarily different in some ways from state QRIS systems, while in some ways very similar. Complementary exists in
- Quality practice content
- Evaluation processes
- Databases
- Technical assistance resources
NAEYC has developed deep, thorough content related to quality practices in early learning group care environments. Our standards and criteria were validated through the contribution of panels of early learning experts and have been strengthened by 30 years of field experience in accreditation.
Both NAEYC and CA-QRIS tap multiple sources of evidence (observation, documentation) in their program evaluations. NAEYC has a broad and integrated evaluation process – one set of interrelated tools assessing program quality across both structural and process elements – in classrooms and in front offices.
QRIS systems have professional development (PD) databases and other databases uniquely suited to their state’s needs and requirements. While NAEYC evaluates PD as well, CA-QRIS and other state systems can provide the best leadership and resources in this area.
Technical assistance (TA) resources provide the best example of the complementary strengths of NAEYC Accreditation and state QRIS systems. QRISs can offer coaching and mentoring and other forms of direct technical assistance to programs where NAEYC cannot. On the other hand, NAEYC can best marshal national thought leadership, conduct conferences and publish a wide array of content resources to expand and support the work of direct TA in states.
This NAEYC/F5SB pilot project has demonstrated that it is possible to reduce duplication and redundancy between NAEYC and QRIS systems for achieving quality improvement. What if CA-QRIS embedded NAEYC Accreditation in the QRIS as a cost-effective means of QRIS implementation? Many states have recognized NAEYC accreditation as an alternate means of meeting most or all qualifications for top tiers of their systems. NAEYC is willing and able to partner with California and other states to achieve long-term maintenance of quality improvement efforts.
Susan M. Hedges, PhD
Director of Program Standards and Assessment, NAEYC