What is High-Quality?

CLASP believes that the components of high-quality early education include the following:

✓ Sufficient funding to attract and retain well-trained and qualified teachers in formal settings

✓ Training and information for all providers, whether informal or formal, to address the developmental needs of all children, particularly those who may be more likely to experience the risk factors associated with poverty

✓ Availability of and access to comprehensive services for families needing them, including developmental screenings and follow-up treatment; child health, mental health, and nutrition services; and access to continuous and ongoing medical care, family support, and home visiting

✓ Parental involvement opportunities for all parents, including those working full-time and those who may not speak English as their first language

✓ Infrastructure supports to ensure ongoing monitoring and quality improvement, technical assistance in all aspects of the program, and program assessment in formal settings

✓ Strategies to help children manage transitions to other classrooms or programs, including kindergarten

✓ Inclusion of children with special needs in settings with normally developing children, along with supports to teachers and parents to help all children reach their full potential

✓ Appropriately serving culturally and linguistically diverse children with bilingual and bicultural teachers and caregivers, and increasing training opportunities for all caregivers, including
cultural competency and strategies for teaching English Language Learners

✓ Responsiveness to the needs of working parents, ensuring that full-workday options are available to families needing them-through planning, coordination, and collaboration with other community, state, and federal programs