Capital Quality

The Office of the State Superintendent’s (OSSE) Division of Early Learning (DEL) is in the process of replacing the current Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), Going for the Gold, with an Enhanced QRIS system named Capital Quality. Since its original implementation, the current QRIS has not changed or been updated, but due to changes in the education sector in DC and an increased need for a common measure of quality across all three sectors (public charter schools, DC Public Schools, and community-based organizations). Most importantly, Capital Quality will be public-facing, which will allow parents to review and compare the program quality of various child development providers throughout the District, and make informed decisions when deciding where to enroll their child.

 

The Capital Quality pilot was launched in April 2016 to advance and align quality standards across DC’s early care and education system. Capital Quality aims to provide meaningful consumer information, helps OSSE align supports for providers to research-based quality standards, and targets areas of improvement through collaborative partnership between child development providers, OSSE, and other agencies. Capital Quality has three components: a rating, a continuous quality improvement (CQI) plan, and a public-facing profile for child development facilities.

 

Capital Quality will have four tiers and will use a combination of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System

(CLASS), the Environmental Rating Scales (ERS), and attendance measures (for pre-K programs only) to rate

programs. The CQI plan includes a set of quality standards that are common to all programs that serve children birth to age 5. These standards align with already existing standards for the three sectors operating early childhood education programs in the District. The public-facing QRIS profile will include the rating, key elements of the CQI plan, and additional information beneficial to families, such as hours of operation, group size and ratios, languages spoken, accreditation status, and results of licensing and

monitoring visits.

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For more information please click here.