Great Start Quality Rating and Improvement System

Early Learning and Care in Michigan
In Michigan, 64% of children under the age of 6 are in the care of someone other than a family member on a regular basis. Research clearly shows that it is the quality of this early learning and care that matters most. The typical child care and/or early learning setting in Michigan is licensed but not accredited (less than 4% of center-based programs are accredited), so there is currently no widespread objective basis by which to judge the quality of programs. Without this information there is no way to determine where quality gaps exist, effectively target funding and supports to address those gaps, establish incentives for programs to improve, and empower parents to make informed choices about their children’s early learning and care.

The Quality Rating and Improvement System Design Project
To improve the quality of early learning and care programs in Michigan, the Early Childhood Investment Corporation and the Great Start Early Learning Advisory Council (GS-ELAC) have worked with the Build Initiative to secure funding to complete a design for a QRIS in Michigan.

A QRIS Design Project Management Committee has been formed to prepare recommendations by Thanksgiving for a QRIS that will provide:

A quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) for licensed centers and group homes, registered family homes, including Great Start Readiness Programs and Head Start Programs
Easy access to information for families about the quality of early learning and care programs and the relationship between high quality programs and school readiness
A quality development continuum (QDC) for enrolled, subsidized but unlicensed, child care providers (aide and relative providers)
Data that demonstrate the impact of the QRIS and the QDC on helping to prepare children for school
Quality improvement supports for early learning and care programs

Our Vision
Implementing a QRIS will help Michigan take another essential step on the road to assuring that all children in Michigan arrive at kindergarten safe, healthy, eager and prepared for school success. A QRIS will help to assure that children are ready for kindergarten, providers have a clear path to improve quality, and families have information to make the best decisions for their child’s early learning and care.

Our Work
In March of 2010, the Great Start Early Learning Advisory Council (GS-ELAC) agreed that a Committee should be formed to oversee the development of a design for a quality development, rating and improvement system to address program quality, across all child care and early learning settings. Click on the link below to read the “Recommendations for Michigan’s Quality Assurance System for Child Care and Early Education.” The document was adopted by the GS-ELAC at its November 17th meeting.

The next phase of the project will be the preparation of a plan for a field test. Information regarding this phase of the work will be available beginning in January of 2011.

July 2011

MI-QRIS Field Test Implementation Timeline
QRIS Field Test Design Committee Notes July 21, 2011

May 2011

QRIS/QDC Field Test Design Committee Recommendations Field Update

Great Start Quality Rating and Improvement System ield Test Design Committee Scope of Work

QRIS Field Test Design Committee

Nov. 2010)
Recommendations for Michigan’s Quality Assurance System for Child Care and Early Education
QRIS recommendation appendices