02/11/2010

The Law of 80/20

In 1906 the Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, made two observations - that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population and that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.  From this he developed the Pareto Principle which states that for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.  Applied to life in a child care center this might mean that....

• 80% of funds secured in a fundraiser will come from 20% of sources;
• 80% of absenteeism can be attributed to 20% of staff;
• 80% of complaints will come from 20% of parents;
• 80% of your enrollment referrals will come from 20% of your current parents

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The Program Administration Scale was developed by Paula Jorde Bloom and Teri Talen based on the growing consensus that the quality of early childhood programs should be determined by more than just the classroom learning environment. This valuable tool incorporates data obtained through interview or self-report, document review, and observation to reliably measure the administrative practices of an early childhood program.

The Program Administration Scale includes 25 items clustered in 10 subscales, which measure both leadership and management functions of center-based early care and education programs. It can be used in multiple ways: program self-improvement, technical assistance and monitoring, research and evaluation, and public awareness.

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