In the News: Teen Parent Programs Invest in Quality Improvement

Did you know that there are 31 high school-based teen parent programs that provide subsidized child care for young mothers and fathers who want to finish high school? Next year this number will increase to 33 as Dallas and Ontario get their programs into full swing.

Did you know that of these 31 programs, two are Early Head Start programs, three are contracted (privately owned) child care facilitates, and 26 are early learning and development environments operated by the school district directly? Of the 29 non-Head Start programs, 27 of them have submitted their QRIS portfolios for review and one of the Head Start programs has already received their star rating!

Okay, maybe you knew all of that — but did you know that almost all of the early childhood professionals who are working for these programs have participated in specialized training on individualized planning, observation, and adult-child interaction? Many of them have also attended training for understanding personal biases and temperaments and how these issues effect their work with children.

It’s so impressive that they have done all of this in the past nine months while providing high quality care for children and supporting the parenting needs of young mothers and fathers? Needless to say it has been a very busy year for the Teen Parent Special Population programs. No wonder they were excited for June to arrive and get a much needed summer vacation.

Quality improvement takes a great deal of work as these early childhood professionals and parenting educators can tell you. The rewards, however, are tremendous for the children. Susan Ludwig in Newberg went so far as to support her entire staff in acquiring their Infant/Toddler Credential while she herself received her Director’s Credential. Cindy Montgomery in Eugene mentioned that while the QRIS process was challenging, the quality of their programming has skyrocketed. Julie Mitchell in Madras commented that she enjoyed the chance to reconsider some of her policies but that it sure felt good to put that white box in the mail!

Way to go Teen Parent Programs! Next year — developmental assessment training and increasing star ratings!

By Crystal Persi
, Special Populations Quality Improvement Coordinator, Quality at Work Newsletter