Early Achievers – August 1, 2017 Milestone

Story Time 

The Department of Early Learning (DEL) is proud to announce that Washington’s early learning system has reached another Early Start Act milestone!  In 2016, all early learning providers accepting state child care subsidies made a commitment to quality improvement through participation in Early Achievers, Washington’s Quality Rating and Improvement System.  With the support of Early Achievers coaches at our partner Child Care Aware of Washington, these providers have spent the past year working to complete the Early Achievers Professional Training Series before the August 1, 2017 milestone mandated by the Early Start Act of 2015.  We are thrilled to share, as of August 1, 2017, 97 percent of mandated providers met this important milestone in quality improvement.  

Reaching this milestone has been a team effort and we are incredibly proud of the work that our partners and participants have done to accomplish this latest achievement:

• In the past year, more than 1,500 licensed child care providers completed Early Achievers Level 2 activities, meaning the vast majority of licensed providers who accept state subsidies met the recent Early Start Act milestone. 
• Early Achievers participants received a combined 81,277 hours of coaching, technical assistance and consultation, offered in English, Spanish, Somali, Russian from our wonderful partners at Child Care Aware.
• As of now, approximately 71 percent of all licensed child care providers are participating in Early Achievers.

Today, more than 3,900 early learning providers in Washington participate in Early Achievers. Their dedication to continuous improvement and ongoing evaluation has a direct impact on kindergarten readiness for children across the state and we are proud to support their efforts. DEL and its partners will continue to offer a variety of supports and resources as we prepare Early Achievers participants for their next milestone of rating Level 3 or higher by the end of 2019. We will also continue to evaluate the Early Achievers system to ensure the quality standards lead to the kindergarten readiness, at the core of our mission and purpose. This latest successful milestone brings us one step closer to our goal of getting 90 percent of kids ready for kindergarten by 2020.

Want to know what providers are saying about the Early Achievers experience? Watch Child Care Aware of Washington’s Impact video series here: http://wa.childcareaware.org/providers/early-achievers.