The Program Quality Assessment (PQA) Team is available to support you in the Internal Assessment Process (IAP) by completing an on-site assessment in your program. In addition to the Environment Rating Scales® (ERS) and Classroom Observation Scoring System® (CLASS®) this opportunity is available for all Program Observation Instruments (POIs) listed in the Keystone STARS Standards.Read More

By Pam Schaffner What do the words punishment, discipline, and redirection mean to you? Do you think they are interchangeable; do they mean the same thing? Do they have different meanings? Are they all appropriate ways to manage the behavior of young children?Read More

Lisa Mulliken Piaget is a well-known name in the early childhood world. Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who created theories of cognitive development. Piaget’s theories included the concept of schemas. In simple terms, a play schema can be thought of as a group of instructions or repeated behaviors that children use during play. Children use...Read More

by Natalie Grebe Recently I attended a birthday party for a friend’s little boy named Cian. Cian was turning two and was all smiles as guests arrived and piled presents inside his red wagon. He mostly enjoyed playing with his cousins in the yard and luring his favorite “Grammie” to his sandbox to play alongside...Read More

Regina Wright The reason why I chose to write about this topic is because, I am asked often when visiting infant rooms and family childcare homes with only infants enrolled, “Why we require, “Keep out of reach of children” items, to be stored in locked cabinets?”  Many providers don’t understand the reasoning for locked items...Read More

By Angel Avery-Wright I often observe early learning settings that are missing musical instruments and activities. The instruments are not on the shelves. There is no music center.Read More

By Pam Schaffner The assessment team in PA is often asked if they have any tips to make meeting quality standards easier. Since they have experiences visiting many programs in their professional careers, they have seen many programs employ strategies to make things easier, more efficient, and more effective. Implementing quality can be stressful or...Read More

Natalie Grebe A key component of a program’s sustained quality that may not receive consistent attention is the director’s observations of classrooms. It is best practice for directors to observe classrooms and review their findings with teachers. Most directors will say the biggest reason for not being able to do this as well as they...Read More

By Regina Wright I may be confessing my age, but let’s let our imaginations wander. Think about the time in your life when you were a child. What made your free time fun time? When I imagine, I think about long summer days and how I spent endless hours jumping rope. I had so much...Read More

By Pam Schaffner The assessment team in PA is often asked if they have any tips to make meeting quality standards easier. Since they have experiences visiting many programs in their professional careers, they have seen many programs employ strategies to make things easier, more efficient, and more effective. Implementing quality can be stressful and...Read More