"Parents often have the misconception that children need a classroom
environment in order to achieve the best learning opportunities," said
Tammy Tenner, past president of Florida Family Child Care Home Association
(FFCCHA) and owner of Tenner Family Child Care. "Many family child care
home settings offer school readiness and enrichment activities that are
just as effective as center-based care curriculum in getting children
ready for kindergarten."
To help parents understand the educational effectiveness of family child
care homes, some counties in Florida are implementing Quality Rating and
Improvement Systems (QRIS) which are used to evaluate, improve and communicate
the level of quality in early childhood programs. The National Association
for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) defines QRIS as serving multiple
purposes including helping to benchmark quality for consumers and broaden
awareness of the components of quality; providing additional incentives and
resources to programs; and creating a stronger infrastructure to support and
sustain the quality of programs, regardless of setting.
Miami-Dade and Palm Beach are two counties that include family child care homes
in their quality improvement systems. Family Central, Inc. in Palm Beach County
administers the program through funding from the Children's Services Council
and is available to providers who serve school readiness children in their
programs. In Miami-Dade, the Mailman Center for Child Development (MCCD)
provides many services, including a voluntary QRIS, that is available to all
family child care home providers who wish to participate.
Under the leadership of Dr. Susan Gold, who received the FFCCHA's 2008
"Agencies Helping Associations Prosper" Award and the Advocate of the Year
Award, MCCD serves over 13,000 children and families each year and provides
services to children with special needs and their families, training to early
care and education providers, and collaboration with various community
organizations to improve quality in family child care settings.
Dr. Gold and her dedicated team at MCCD utilize a creative model of blended
funding to provide an array of services to family child care home providers.
The QRIS components of technical assistance is provided through a partnership
and funding from the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe (ELC MDM)
and The Children's Trust; accreditation assistance through a partnership with
the United Way of Miami and the ELC MDM; and professional development as well
as career advising through a partnership with the Quality Counts Career Center
operated by the Children's Forum and also funded by the ELC MDM and The Trust.
These vital services, offered to family child care providers, enable professional
development scholarships and wage stipends for their continued pursuit of
education. Additionally, providers receive assistance with creating and
implementing a quality improvement plan to enhance their program and enrich the
educational opportunities for the children and families they serve.
Many other community partners are also involved in MCCD's QRIS effort and by
working together they are increasing excellence in early childhood education.
These partners include the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe, The
Children's Trust, United Way Center for Excellence, the Children's Forum, the
Early Childhood Initiative Foundation, Devereux Florida, National Institute for
Innovative Leadership and the Dade Community Foundation.
"Without the support of my wonderful staff at MCCD, our partners and program
funders, our QRIS initiatives would not be possible," said Dr. Gold. "Together,
we are developing a movement for family child care practitioners by giving them
the resources they need to provide high-quality, education-enriched programs for
young children."
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Family child care is a popular form of care for many families in Florida,
yet it is a field that is sometimes misunderstood when it comes to the
education of young children. In fact, there are many learning activities
and benefits that are unique to family child care that help prepare
children for school.