Now available are the updated Keystone STARS Performance Standards and Program Manual, effective July 1, 2018. On July 1, 2017, the revised Keystone STARS Performance Standards were released. During the 17/18 Fiscal Year, Early Child Care and Education programs had the opportunity to become familiar with the revised STAR Standards during a “Hold Harmless” Year. Also during FY 17/18, [...]
Pennsylvania early learning professionals now have more options for furthering their education as part of a partnership with institutions of higher education. As part of the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC), Pennsylvania developed a mini-grant program to provide institutions of higher education (IHE) with financial resources to align their Early Childhood [...]
One of the options programs have for quality assessment in Keystone STARS is the Environment Rating Scales (ERS). There are two important companion documents that programs should become familiar with to understand how best practice is assessed using the ERS tools – the authors’ Notes for Clarification and the PA Position Statements. The ERS authors’ [...]
An infographic, Educating Pennsylvania's Youngest Learners, from the PA Key shares a snapshot of the expenses related to child care in Pennsylvania. All families in Pennsylvania deserve access to quality early care and education programs, but quality programs can come with a hefty price tag. The infographic is based on information from a recent study, Examining Child [...]
The PA Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) invites Keystone STARS early learning providers to take a brief survey and share feedback on their experience of the pilot year of the new Keystone STARS. The results from the survey will be part of a formal evaluation report issued in late summer 2018. All [...]
Lisa Ross, Keystone STARS Quality Coach for the Northwest Regional Key shares her experience working with Beacon Day Care in Indiana PA. In the nearly three years I have been working with Beacon Day Care, I have seen them make AMAZING progress and most recently they are the first provider I have had choose to [...]
We're celebrating Candy’s Kids Learning Academy in Philadelphia. This program was impacted by a shooting in April 2018. An individual was shot and killed near the building and the children were in circle time when the police arrived with firearms and the facility had to lock down. Many of the families and staff are already [...]
We're celebrating Young Scholars Daycare Center in Philadelphia. Young Scholars Daycare Center was accepted into PHLpreK in Jan 2017 as a growth provider and committed to movement higher STAR levels. They have been working with Quality Coach, Urban Affairs Coalition, TA, and multiple partners to make meaningful CQI progress since then and recently made STAR 4 [...]
We're celebrating Chinatown Learning Center (STAR 4) in Philadelphia who marks their 25th year of service! Chinatown Learning Center is a bilingual preschool and pre-kindergarten program in the heart of Philadelphia’s Chinatown community. CLC’s program focuses on teaching children of immigrant families in the Asian-American community where English is a Second language. CLC provides a dual language [...]
During National Teacher Appreciation Week, May 7-11, 2018, families throughout Pennsylvania are sharing stories of the impact teachers make in the lives of children. OCDEL Deputy Secretary, Suzann Morris, has a few words she would like to share with early learning teachers! Visit the PA's Promise for Children website to read the thank yous shared [...]
