Nearly all 50 states implement—or plan to implement—some form of a quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for early childhood education and care programs to rate, communicate, and improve the quality of early education and care. However, each state uses different strategies to help programs improve the quality of early education and care.

To help administrators understand the different approaches to quality improvement, the American Institutes for Research has analyzed how each QRIS incorporates quality improvement supports and has summarized the findings in a new brief, Moving Up the Ladder: How Do States Deliver Quality Improvement Supports Within Their Quality Rating and Improvement Systems?

On October 26, 2015, AIR hosted a webinar to delve into the findings:

The webinar shared how QRISs across the country do the following:

• Use on-site technical assistance.
• Support educators’ pursuit of higher education or credentials.
• Provide financial supports and incentives to encourage high-quality early education and care.

AIR researchers presented the results of their analyses. In addition, Theresa Hawley, Executive Director of the Illinois Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development, and Mykala Robinson, Quality Program Manager of Child Care for the Iowa Department of Human Services, will share their hands-on knowledge of quality improvement strategies used in their states as well as their reactions to AIR’s analyses.