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

eyond minimum child care licensing rules were a critical foundation for allof the system. This system of early childhood education and care standardswill ultimately address standards for infants and toddlers, preschoolers, andprimary grade children, including both early learning expectations and programquality standards for classroom-based programs and family child care settings.Standards for parenting education programs and for professional developmentare also needed, as are standards for out-of-school time programs (before- andafter-school programs, and summer programs) for school-agers.This system of high quality standards will set the stage for the developmentof a comprehensive and coordinated system of services. Individual programs andfunding opportunities will further define accomplishment of the standards throughtheir own operating procedures and implementation manuals.The standards in this document are meant to define settings of the highestquality. Michigan is embarking on a tiered rating system, which will include astaircase of increasing quality and supports for programs to reach the highquality described in this document. Minimal legal standards (licensing) for theoperation of classroom early childhood education and care settings and familyand group child care homes will continue to form the base for this system. Thisdocument is the first of several pieces of the early childhood standards systemicwork; it is focused on three- and four-year olds and the classroom programs(e.g., Department of Education administered early childhood programs includingthose serving children with disabilities, the state’s Head Start programs, andcommunity-based child and preschool programs) they may attend.In response to these systemic needs, the Department of Education convenedan interagency group in 2004 to lead the development of this document, EarlyChildhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten, essentially a revision of the1992 document described earlier. The State Board of Education then appointedan Ad Hoc Advisory Committee of more than 80 individuals who spent almost ayear and countless hours on this work. The Advisory Committee undertook theirwork with the hope that the resulting document would have these impacts:• The development of cohesive standards that integrate and align all earlychildhood programs as a foundation for all children’s well-being.• The development and implementation of plans for professionaldevelopment of early childhood staff so that all children have access toqualified staff.• The creation of a framework for an accountable early childhood systemthat would include assessments of children’s learning and program quality.• Partnerships among professionals, families, and communities as fullpartners in children’s school and life success.• Definition and support for best practices in early childhood programs.• Promotion of public awareness of the standards and their implementation.Michigan Department of Education