Quality Child Care Initiatives

YoungStar - Wisconsin's Child Care Rating Program

Supporting Families Together Association (SFTA)

Supporting Families Together Association (SFTA) was created in 2007 with the merger of the previous Wisconsin Child Care Resource and Referral Network, the Wisconsin Child Care Improvement Project and the statewide network of Children's Trust Fund sponsored Family Resource Centers. SFTA provides training and technical assistance to existing and prospective family child care programs and group child care centers through the local capacity of Child Care Resource and Referral. SFTA's mission is to support groups that promote quality early care, resources and education to enrich the lives of children and strengthen families. The SFTA has continued the role of the previous Wisconsin Child Care Resource and Referral Network office to provide a centralized avenue for sharing of information, gathering of data, and sharing of best practice. Currently 14 locally based Child Care Resource and Referral agencies provide services throughout Wisconsin, helping parents find and select child care, support and help sustain existing child care programming, identify local child care needs and resources, develop new child care services where needed and provide public information about child care.

Re-organization Memo (11/4/09)

2009 Together Quality Grows Pilot Project

• Summary of Spring 2009 Quality Initiative Work - This pilot project is designed to test the technical assistance infrastructure of a quality improvement rating system in multiple pilot target areas in Wisconsin.
• Together Quality Grows Project Locations - A summary map of location sites
• Technical Consultation Mentoring Project - This pilot will support the implementation of WMELS and CSEFEL competencies

Grow in Quality Project

A pilot project that was conducted to identify key indicators of child care quality and to begin the process of designing technical assistance specific to these quality indicators

R.E.W.A.R.D (Rewarding Education with Wages and Respect for Dedication)

A compensation initiative that rewards workers in the child care and early education field who have reached specified educational levels and stay in the field (see also Wisconsin Early Childhood Association).

Wisconsin Early Childhood Care and Education Resource Listing - Partner Organizations and Initiatives

Early Childhood Acronyms and Abbreviations Listing

Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS)

The Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards specify developmental expectations for children from birth through entrance to first grade. The standards reflect attention to all the domains of a child's learning and development. Each domain is divided into sub-domains. Each sub-domain includes developmental expectations, program standards, performance standards and developmental continuum. Samples of children's behavior and adult strategies are also provided.

This page includes information on training opportunities, and locating approved WMELS trainers is available at this link.

WMELS 2005-2010 Training Report Summary

Statewide Scholarship Programs

Wisconsin's T.E.A.C.H. (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps)

Links training, compensation and the commitment to improving the quality of early childhood care and education experiences for young children and their families. The program administers a scholarship and bonus program for child care workers (see also Wisconsin Early Childhood Association).

Training and Technical Assistance

The Bureau of Quality Improvement administers a series of contracts for training and technical assistance.

• Training and Technical Assistance SFY2009-11 (pdf)
• Training and Technical Assistance SFY2008-09 (pdf)

Other Information

Collaborative-3 Alliance (pdf)