3-069 - Expectations about Children’s Outcomes in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems: Perspectives on an Expanded Conceptual Framework

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) for early care and education (ECE) programs aim to support young children’s development and school readiness. However, recent results from state QRIS validation studies and analyses of secondary data using simulations of QRIS ratings show mixed evidence that QRIS ratings are linked strongly to children’s outcomes. Researchers and policymakers are left with questions about how much weight to give these findings and how findings contribute to the body of evidence about ECE quality and children’s development. Kathryn Tout will moderate this panel exploring the rapidly changing QRIS research and policy context. Panelists will respond to provocative questions about the unanticipated results, research limitations, the implications for developing an expanded QRIS conceptual framework to guide research, policy and practice, and the need for innovative research strategies to understand QRIS effectiveness. Martha Zaslow will explore QRIS quality indicators and how incomplete specification of indicators intended to support children’s outcomes can produce misleading findings. Rena Hallam will address the need to specify QRIS activities such as provider outreach, quality improvement supports, and improved access for low-income children that should also be included in a QRIS conceptual framework. Kimberly Boller will respond to questions about alternative research methods that could be used in QRIS studies to gain a more complete understanding of an expanded conceptual framework. Ivelisse Martinez-Beck will address questions about how federal and state priorities can shape new QRIS research that accounts for a broader array of outcomes for children, families, and ECE programs.

Sub Unit

• School Readiness/Childcare

Moderator

• Kathryn A Tout, Child Trends

Panelists

• Martha Zaslow, Society for Research in Child Development

• Rena Hallam, Univ of Delaware

• Kimberly Boller, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

• Ivelisse M Martinez-Beck, Administration for Children & Families, US Dept. Health & Human Services