Early Childhood Standards of Quality for ... - State of Michigan

In 1992, the orange-covered document, Early Childhood Standards of Qualityfor Prekindergarten through Second Grade, including voluntary standards forclassrooms designed for children ages four through eight, was adopted by theState Board of Education. Although intended to apply to many of the state’searly childhood programs, much of the language was specific to public schooldistricts because of the wide age range covered. The “orange standards” wererequired for a few grant programs, and many school districts had great successin implementing programs based on the document.At about the same time, procedural safeguards and special educationregulations were developed for Early Childhood Special Education (formerly Pre-Primary Impaired, PPI) classrooms for children ages 3-5, funded through Part Bof the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).Confusion in the early childhood world about which set of State Board ofEducation program standards applied to which program, or should apply, soonbecame apparent. Inconsistent program standards made inclusion of children withdiffering needs difficult. Simultaneously, efforts in state government to improvequality in all programs, beyond the minimums required by early childhood/childcare licensing, brought together a large group to redefine high quality programstandards. The vision of high quality for all is to be actualized by a tiered ratingsystem for programs, with minimal licensing standards as the foundation and astaircase of graduated improvements in quality to reach these high standardsat the top. As programs are supported to move up the stairway, the foundationalminimums can be gradually increased so that many more programs provide morequality to more children. It is clear that programs cannot improve in quality unlessprofessional development and other program supports are available to them.The standards in this section of the document are meant to define qualityin all center-based classroom programs for three- and four-year old children,regardless of sponsorship or funding. Each program standard is followed bya list of statements that illustrate a variety of ways that a quality program maydemonstrate that it meets the standard. A particular program will meet some,but probably not all, of the items that demonstrate each standard. Fundingstipulations may require programs to meet particular standards in specific ways.Programs funded for targeted populations (e.g., children with disabilities, childrenlearning English) may have required components to meet the standards. Mostchildren can be successfully served in programs that are open to all children ofa particular age; however, this is not possible in some cases because of fundingrestrictions or the needs of the children themselves for specialized services thatcannot be provided with sufficient intensity in an inclusive program. For example,programs for children with specific disabilities will find that the program standardsthemselves are still applicable, but that they need to be met in particular ways tomeet the needs of the children enrolled. Implementation documents, operatingmanuals, applications, and the like are being developed and will provideadditional guidance to such targeted programs.10 Michigan Department of Education