Draft of outreach to Children's Trust Fund directors and staff -- encouraging them to engage with Early Childhood Stakeholders in order to influence the implementation/revision/consideration of QRIS in their state.

1. Oklahoma launched the first Quality Rating and Improvement
System (QRIS) in 1998. At that time, the term QRS (Quality
Rating System) was the term used to describe these systems,
constructed to “assess, improve and communicate about the
level of quality in early care and education settings,”
according to Anne Mitchell in her QRIS toolkit, Stair Steps
to Quality. Recently, the ‘I’ has been added to create
the term QRIS, the ‘I’ standing for Improvement. The
addition of the ‘I’ has helped to shift the focus away from
merely rating early care and education programs – expanding
the idea of quality to include continuous quality
improvement. It also helps redefine the term “quality” to
include such things as serving families in a culturally
competent manner, including supports that will allow
families, in partnership
with early care and
education professionals, to
facilitate their child’s
optimum development and
school readiness. During
the past ten years,
seventeen other states have
joined Oklahoma in fully
implementing QRIS. All but
five of the remaining
states are drafting
standards, piloting or considering how to implement QRIS.
If you are interested in learning more about how this
Share What You Know.
Research by NAEYC
revealed that early
childhood educators feel
a strong sense of
responsibility to help
prevent child abuse and
neglect, but want to know
more about effective
strategies.
The Right Tools Are
Always Helpful.
The Strengthening
Families Protective
Factor (SF/PF) Framework
is a strong support for
quality in early care
settings.
Primary
Prevention
A
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K
Ke
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In High Quality Early
Care and Education
Settings
Important ways Children’s Trust Funds
Can be engaged in states’ Quality Rating
and
Improvement Systems
(QRIS)
Getting
Started
What is QRIS?
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2. The Alliance’s
Early Childhood
Initiative
(ECI)
2
Stories from Three ECI States:
Embedding the Strengthening Families Protective
Factor (SF/PF) Framework Into QRIS
Working
Together.
One
Goal.
A System of Systems
QRIS is a composite system that unifies
multiple sectors of the early childhood
education system. Some of the sub-
systems represented in states’ QRIS
are:
 Child Care Licensing
 Professional Development System
 Early Care and Education
Providers – Centers and Family
Child Care
 Child Care Resource & Referral
 Early Childhood Mental Health
 Departments of Education
 Higher Education
All of these must agree upon how the
basic elements of QRIS should be
structured and implemented. Building
the five protective factors (parental
resilience, social connections,
concrete support in times of need,
knowledge of parenting and child
Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect Before it
Ever Occurs by Strengthening Families.
development and social and emotional
development of children) is a priority
for each of these systems.
Basic Elements of QRIS
There are five elements that are common
to almost all states’ QRIS:
1. Standards – at least two levels of
quality above state’s basic
licensing requirements – may align
with early learning guidelines.
2. Accountability – Monitoring and
assessment of standards
3. Support to ECE Practitioners –
technical assistance, training and
other supports to help
practitioners along the pathway to
quality.
4. Financing – tiered reimbursements,
grants and other support tied to
quality.
5. Parent Education – actually,
educating parents to be savvy
consumers of high quality early
care and education as they see how
it will benefit their most precious
resource – their children.
Early Care and Education
Professionals
Children’s Trust Funds

3. Children’s Trust Funds Early Care and Education Professionals
3
Together,
with the right tools.
. .
We can
strengthen
families.
“Quality Early Care and
Education programs are the
foundation for a child
abuse and neglect
prevention agenda.”
--- Sharon L.
Kagan
Evidence points to
the reality that
quality early care and
education programs
strengthen children and
families and ultimately
reduce child abuse and
neglect.
Children’s Trust
Funds have valuable
experience implementing
effective community-based
family strengthening
strategies.
The Strengthening
Families Protective
Factor Framework is a
tool that Children’s
Trust Funds can offer as
a resource to help unite
the multiple sectors of
the early childhood field
necessary to build and
sustain Quality Rating
and Improvement Systems
(QRIS).
Why should
Children’s
Trust Funds
become
involved
with QRIS?
1
2
3
Strengthening Families Protective Factor
Framework

4. The Alliance’s
Early Childhood
Initiative
(ECI)
4
Stories from Three ECI States:
Embedding the Strengthening Families Protective
Factor (SF/PF) Framework Into QRIS
applies to your state, see the reference materials in this
document and contact your State Child Care Administrator for
additional information specific to your state.
In September of 2008, three ECI States (Pennsylvania,
Tennessee and Idaho) were chosen to participate in
Strengthening Families Through QRIS -- an intensive
effort to support their state’s QRIS with the
Protective Factors*
Pennsylvania
In 2002, Pennsylvania commissioned the Early Care and Education Quality
Study as a part of the Task Force on Early Care and Education. The study
indicated a decline in the quality of early childhood settings, both in center-
based and family child care homes. Keystone STARS, Pennsylvania’s QRIS,
was launched in 2002 to address the alarming decline in quality. The robust
voluntary system is a continuous quality improvement program available to
all regulated child care providers in Pennsylvania. Keystone STARS has
steadily increased the quality of centers, group homes and family child care
homes. Approximately 1,500 child care providers participated in Keystone
STARS in June 2004, serving 72,000 children. By January 2009 that number
had grown to over 5,000 child care providers serving over 180,000 children
and their families. The ECI team in Pennsylvania has embedded language
from the SF/PF Framework into their Best Practices Guide and Optional
Tools. These tools assist programs as they seek to move up to higher levels
of quality. Another aspect of the ECI team’s work is to create a tool kit for
child care providers that will support their use of the SF/PF approach as
they reach for higher quality. As this team studied the common elements of
QRIS, they saw their best opportunity or “door” into their state’s QRIS to be
that of “supports to ECE practitioners” (p.2).
Tennessee
Tennessee’s QRIS actually includes two programs:
 Child Care Evaluation & Report Card Program –
required for all licensed and approved child
care providers
 Star Quality Child Care Program – voluntary
program that recognizes child care providers who
meet a higher standard of quality.
QRIS standards in Tennessee require both of the above
programs to participate in a program assessment. This
is done through a variety of standard assessment
tools, such as the Environment Rating Scale.
Tennessee has identified alignment between the various
ERS tools and the SF/PF Framework. Often child care
programs may view the ERS as a list of requirements
that they must check off. An awareness of how these
requirements serve to strengthen families is a
powerful motivation. The ECI team in Tennessee is
choosing to embed the SF/PF Framework into their QRIS
The vibrant network of
the ECI Learning
Community . . .
represents partnerships
between CTFs and early
childhood stakeholders in
27 states. Each member
of the Learning Community
is committed to:
 Transformational
systemic change to
benefit children and
families
 Attainment and
strengthening of the five
protective factors among
all families and
communities
 A future where all
children live in safe,
stable and nurturing
families and communities.
The ECI Theory of Change
maps out a plan to
accomplish the goals
stated above. A key
strategy will be to
explore ways in which
states can embed the
Strengthening Families
Protective Factor
Framework
into their states’
Quality Rating and
Collaborati
on
Requires
Concentrati
on

5. Children’s Trust Funds Early Care and Education Professionals
5
through the “door” of “standards”
and “accountability.”
*This work is made possible through funding
from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
and the A.L. Mailman Foundation
Idaho
Enthusiastic support from child
care providers and a disdain for
regulations by state policy makers
form the backdrop for efforts to
increase quality for early care and
education settings in Idaho. Yet,
since 2003 a unique relationship
between the Idaho Association for
the Education of Young Children
(Idaho AEYC) and the University of
Idaho (IdahoSTARS state training
and registry system) was the basis
for a collaboration that eventually
included Idaho’s Children’s Trust
Fund. Although quality efforts
initially focused on voluntary
training and education
scholarships, mentoring, and
environment assessment, by 2006 a
broader focus began to include the
use of the Strengthening Families
approach as an integral component
of Idaho’s Child Care Quality
Rating and Improvement System
(QRIS) and accounts for 20% of the
quality standards. QRIS is
currently in the design phase and
being implemented through a
statewide pilot program in over 20
cities. The pilot includes 52
centers and family-based programs,
serving nearly 3,000 children and
their families. Idaho has been
successful at incorporating major
components of the Strengthening
Families approach (including the
self-assessment) into the QRIS
standards. They have created a
curriculum around the SF/PF
Framework that will soon be
expanded to programs outside of the
QRIS pilot, utilizing the “support
to ECE practitioners” door into
their QRIS. The most recent work
being undertaken by the ECI team is
to implement the Community Café and
reach out to parents to cultivate
their “leadership voice” in order
to raise an awareness of the
importance of quality child care
and create a greater demand for
higher quality and a strong
statewide voluntary QRIS.
3
Resources:
To learn more about the National
Alliance of Children’s Trust and
Prevention Funds’ Early Childhood
Initiative work with Strengthening
Families Through QRIS, see:
www.ctfalliance.org/qris
To download a copy of the
Strengthening Families Self-
Assessment, Guidebook for Early
Childhood Programs and other
materials, see:
www.strengtheningfamilies.net
The federal American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the
“Stimulus Package,” offers some
opportunities to implement early
childhood policy and systems change.
To learn more about how this could
possibly benefit implementation of
QRIS, see: www.buildinitiative.org
The National Child Care Information
Center has recently updated
information about states who are
fully implementing QRIS, with links
to states’ QRIS websites:
http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/qrs-
defsystems.html
Advancing Child Abuse and Neglect
Protective Factors: The Role of the
Early Care and Education
Infrastructure by Sharon L. Kagan
gives a justification of why high
quality early childhood programs are
a logical foundation for a child
abuse and neglect prevention agenda:
http://www.cssp.org/uploadFiles/Kaga
n.pdf
For further information,
contact:
Martha Reeder, Program Manager
Early Childhood Initiative
National Alliance of Children’s
Trust and Prevention Funds
marthareeder@gmail.com

6. [Recipient]
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Children’s Trust and Preventions Funds across the
United States have embraced the Strengthening Families
Protective Factor (SF/PF) Framework as a way to build
strong families and communities and to support the
optimal development of the very youngest and most
vulnerable children.
Early Care and Education Systems have recognized the
need for higher quality early care and education
settings, and have pursued the development of Quality
Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) as a way to meet
this need.
High quality early care and education settings that
reach out to parents in significant and meaningful
partnerships may be one of the best ways to prevent
child abuse and neglect. As QRIS are being built and
revised, the critical opportunity exists to strengthen
families and prevent child abuse before it ever
occurs.
Strengthening Families
Through QRIS
Primary Prevention: A Key Ingredient in High
Quality
Early Care and
Education
National Alliance
of Children’s
Trust and
Prevention Funds
5712 30th Avenue NE
Seattle WA 98105
Phone (206) 526-1221
Fax (206) 526-0220
info@ctfalliance.org
www.ctfalliance.org
Safe and Healthy
Children
Strong and Stable
Families
Thriving and
Prosperous
Communities