The Center for Early Education Evaluation at HighScope now administers the PQA®
Ypsilanti, Michigan, March 11, 2015 — In January 2015, the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) established a partnership with the HighScope Educational Research Foundation to support the assessment component of Great Start to Quality, Michigan’s tiered quality rating and improvement system for child care and preschool programs. As part of this partnership, HighScope is responsible for the hiring, training, and monitoring of assessors conducting the Program Quality Assessment (PQA®), a series of tools developed by HighScope, for Great Start to Quality. The goal of this partnership is to strengthen and maintain the integrity of the assessment component of Great Start to Quality. The Center for Early Education Evaluation (CEEE), the research and evaluation arm at HighScope, will administer and oversee the transition and implementation.
Tomoko Wakabayashi, EdD, Director of the CEEE at HighScope states, “We have a regular communication system in place with ECIC, and have our best staff working on the transition and implementation. We have been able to transition the contracts of an experienced assessment coordinator and assessment specialists from ECIC to continue their respective roles with us. The CEEE is known to maintain objectivity as researchers, and we’re excited that we may have the opportunity to make suggestions to the process as well as adjustments to the PQA tools based on data we help collect.”
The HighScope Educational Research Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization, established in 1970, with headquarters in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The Foundation’s principal goals are to promote the learning and development of children worldwide, provide professional learning for teachers, and support parents as they help children learn. HighScope is well-known for the influential HighScope Perry Preschool Study, which first established the lasting value of high-quality early childhood education for children in poverty. Find us at HighScope.org.
About HighScope
HighScope Educational Research Foundation is an early childhood leader in pursuit of a world where all children have the opportunity to develop socially, emotionally, and cognitively so they have satisfying, productive lives. HighScope supports the development of young children from birth through age eight by developing and providing quality, research-based, high-quality curricula, assessments, professional learning, and other supports in the context of families and their communities.
HighScope’s roots extend back to the Perry Preschool Project (1962–1967). Launched in Ypsilanti, Michigan and led by Ypsilanti Schools psychologist David Weikart and Perry Elementary School principal Charles Eugene Beatty, the Perry Preschool Project was one of the first early childhood programs in the United States intentionally designed to increase school success for preschool children living in poverty. Today, HighScope’s work can be found in classrooms throughout the United States and in educational settings around the globe.
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Tara Baliat
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