Equity-Centered QRIS Advisory Panel

About The Panel

The CDSS Equity-Centered QRIS Advisory Panel’s charge is to make recommendations for changes to the Child Care and Development (CCDF) federally funded QRIS operated by the CDSS. This includes developing a recommended definition of quality that encompasses racial equity and inclusivity as well as family, community, cultural, and linguistic preferences. It also includes recommending equitable tools and methodologies to measure, recognize, and support quality in all child care settings (including family child care [FCC] and family, friend, and neighbor [FFN] care).

In forming the recommendations, the panel will prioritize the following goals based on feedback CDSS has previously received from the public and the early learning and care field:

1. All providers and program types see themselves in QRIS, regardless of setting type, children and families served, or location, and have equitable access to and benefit from supports such as professional development, resources, financial incentives, and coaching.
2. The QRIS is meaningful to families and is useful in making informed choices for early learning and care that meets their needs.
3. The QRIS advances equity by prioritizing resources to participants furthest from opportunity, including historically underserved communities (e.g., Black, Latinx, Indigenous, communities of color, multilingual learners, women, immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, etc.).
4. The QRIS-associated tools and indicators are grounded in equity and take into consideration costs for measuring quality across the mixed-delivery system.

Contact Info: QRISPanel@dss.ca.gov

Equity-Centered QRIS Advisory Panel Meetings

Resources

• Equity is Quality and Quality is Equity
• The Master Plan for Early Learning and Care
• Re-imagining a More Equitable QRIS: The QCC Equity Project
• Preschool Development Grant – Renewal
• Draft Equity Indicators