History & Accomplishments
Quality Initiatives Promote Standards and Accreditation
We work with state leaders to develop and deliver statewide quality initiatives. Since 1991, our training and technical assistance team has helped hundreds of Head Start and child care programs achieve accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). We helped chronically non-compliant child care programs meet and maintain state child care licensing standards and go on to achieve accreditation. We increase the quality of early care and education for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in child care centers, Head Start programs, and family child care homes.
Technical Assistance Systems
Working with the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, University of Georgia, and key stakeholders, we designed and implemented a uniform approach to the delivery of technical assistance for early childhood programs in Georgia and established Georgia's professional credentialing system for technical assistance consultants. Quality Assist has trained nearly 300 technical assistance consultants.
Training that builds capacity and promotes professional development
Quality Assist has more than 20 years of experience designing and delivering training that makes a difference. Our innovative approach ensures that training transforms practices and endures over time. Since 1995, more than 3,000 early childhood administrators, trainers/facilitators, technical assistance consultants, mentors, coaches, and teachers have attended our annual, weeklong Challenging Teachers Institute. Since 2005, over 200 teachers have attended our Early Language and Literacy training series and our Partners in Quality Mentor training program has prepared over 200 early childhood teachers and directors to mentor their peers.
Mentoring and Coaching
Quality Assist has twofold experience with mentoring and coaching. Our training programs have prepared more than 200 mentors and coaches to work with early childhood teachers and administrators. In addition, we coach teachers who are implementing early language and literacy curricula under four federally-funded projects.
Partnerships & Collaborations
We facilitate partnerships and collaborations among state and federal stakeholders and as a result more than 100 Georgia Head Start programs we were able to voluntarily meet state child care licensing standards; the state's capacity to serve children in low income communities increased as unprecedented Head Start and child care partnerships formed; and Head Start associations established cohesive statewide priorities with measurable goals and specific action plans.
Research & Evaluation
Quality Assist's work is based on extensive experience with comprehensive evaluation of early childhood programs. Using the "Assessment Profile for Early Childhood Programs" (1987) we use objective, evaluation information to guide programmatic decisions and program improvement actions plans, to provide strategic technical assistance and to develop specialized training plans for child care and Head Start programs.
Our expertise in early childhood education and scientifically-based research and evaluation is enriched with our field-based experience across a wide variety of settings. We have evaluated the quality of military child care, private child care, Head Start programs, and family child care; studied the industry impact of changes in child care licensing regulations; and piloted systems for measuring program quality.
To support the evaluation components of three federally funded Early Reading First programs and an Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Project, we train and manage a corps of data collectors using a variety of child assessments, teacher measures, and classroom observation tools. Twice each year we gather data on more than 1,000 children, 250 teachers and 125 classrooms.
