North Dakota Early Childhood Rating & Improvement System

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What People Are Saying

Ben Bernanke

Chairman of the Federal Reserve

“Although education and the acquisition of skills is a lifelong process, starting early in life is crucial. Recent research has documented the high returns that early childhood programs can pay in terms of subsequent educational attainment and in lower rates of social problems, such as teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency.”

Shannon Lang

Child Care Program Director

“I am very excited about the Early Childhood Quality Rating and Improvement System. It will be a great tool to show prospective parents how hard we work as Early Childhood Professionals and the knowledge and skills that we strive to have. My work changes families and kids lives and I believe child care should be recognized.”

Early Childhood Rating & Improvement System Pilot

About Us: Our History, Mission, Goals & Vision (PDF, 114.76 KB)
The United Way of Cass-Clay and The Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation are leading the charge to create a consistent way to distinguish the level of quality in early childhood programs, allowing families to make informed choices and giving early childhood and child care programs a way to showcase their services.

Development Committee

Meet the Founders (Coming Soon!)
Under the direction of North Dakota Department of Human Services (DHS) a statewide sub-committee of Growing Futures was established in February 2007 to develop a framework and standards for an Early Childhood Rating & Improvement System in North Dakota. The results of the sub-committee’s work is the foundation for the Pilot Program in Cass County.

2010-2011 Pilot Summary

Executive Summary (PDF 877.46 KB)

Field Test Report 2010-2011 (PDF, 10 MB)

2012 Pilot Information

In 2012, we will continue to test a Quality Rating & Improvement System in the "real world". Our goals are to increase the quality of early childhood programs in our community by:

• Using research-based standards as a "road-map" to high quality early learning. We will define benchmarks and data collection processes to measure the extent to which programs meet the revised STAR Quality Framework.

• Recruiting an additional 18 early childhood programs to earn a STAR rating in 2012, for a total of 35 STAR rated early childhood programs in Cass County. Taken together these programs will serve approximately 15% of children birth-five in Cass County.

• Developing key messages to educate our community about the importance of early learning.

ND Growing Futures
PO Box 2279
Fargo, ND 58108
(218) 299-7018