Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/courting-collaboration-dancing-well-with-others-toward-improved--infant-and-toddler-program-quality/5022512/
In 2012, Arizona’s First Things First Central Maricopa Regional Partnership Council (renamed East Maricopa Regional Partnership in 2014) funded a quality improvement initiative focused on infants and toddlers. Named FirstRelationships, the project goals included:
- strengthening caregiving continuity.
- enhancing the quality of the relationships infants and toddlers have with their early childhood teachers, and the relationships that teachers have with children’s parents and other family members.
- enhancing children’s child care experiences.
The project included a range of experiences, activities, and interventions, including professional development, coaching, resource grants, and communities of practice sessions, implemented over a three-year period (2012-2015).
Why Collaborate? The Project’s View
The First Relationships project staff was aware that their efforts — to increase quality using the recommended practices of primary caregiving and increased caregiving continuity — had the potential to impact the child care program’s operating licenses. This meant figuring out implications early on to make sure that suggestions for programmatic changes wouldn’t conflict with regulations. In addition, the project staff felt strongly that their coaching and training should align with and include advocating for high levels of licensing compliance on the part of programs. They also ...