9/2013

In February 2013 the nine Phase 1 Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) Program grantee States submitted the first Annual Performance Reports (APRs) for the grant program. The APRs document progress made during the 1st year of grant implementation (January 1 – December 31, 2012). Grantees wrote about lessons learned during the 1st grant year and the progress being made in each of the five RTT-ELC reform areas and on their corresponding performance measures.

Following is a summary of the 1st year of work that grantees completed in the RTT-ELC reform area of High-Quality, Accountable Programs. Some of this work cut across various reform areas and is therefore categorized by content area. This summary is by no means an exhaustive collection of all the work in the area of early childhood program quality improvement being done in a particular State, but it is a compilation of the work highlighted and documented by grantees as being supported by RTT-ELC funds and as meeting the stated RTT-ELC goals.

The work implemented during the 1st year of the grant period in the area of High-Quality, Accountable Programs is organized using select indicators aligned with the core benchmark elements (Program Standards, Supports for Programs and Providers, Financial Incentives and Supports, Quality Assurance and Monitoring, and Consumer Education) laid out in the Office of Child Care’s (OCC) Benchmarks for Quality Improvement Project.

Source: Office of Early Learning, U.S. Department of Education

Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ecd/qris_in_rtt_elc_program_aprs_508c_final.pdf