Quality Rating 3: Program Improvement Plan
Instructions
To meet the requirements for Accreditation and Rating Scales: Program Improvement Plan: ACR 3.3, you will submit a Program Improvement Plan and a statement about your program’s improvement process.
The Policy or Statement Builder provides a step-by-step guide for creating your statement.
Program Improvement Plan
A Program Improvement Plan helps programs strengthen the quality of care and education they provide to children and families. Programs use assessment data and external ratings to identify areas for improvement and set goals to address them. As part of Maryland EXCELS, programs connect their improvement plans to school readiness goals that help children develop the skills they need for future learning and success.
Use these tips to begin your Program Improvement Plan:
- Plan how you will develop your PIP.
- How will you gather input from families and staff? Will there be quarterly meetings, surveys, a committee, etc.?
- How often will you seek feedback on progress?
- How will you determine your priorities?
The answers to these questions will help you create your process statement!
- Find your county’s school readiness scores.
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- What learning domains have the lowest scores?
- How could your program enhance learning in those domains?
- Use your self-assessment score sheets.
- Highlight the categories where your program could improve.
- Use these categories to create your goals.
- Learn the specific requirements for the level by reviewing its Requirements page.
- Are you planning on becoming accredited?
- Look at the accreditation standards of your accrediting organization.
- Identify areas where you would like to see improvement in your program.
- Develop a goal to achieve higher quality in that area.
- Remember quality improvement is a continuous process!
For more information on the categories used in the PIP to form your goals, read Creating a Program Improvement Plan.
What does the documentation look like?
The Program Improvement Plan will address:
- Every area from the Maryland EXCELS or CLASS® self-assessments with an Average Score below 4.00 (based on self-assessments uploaded in ACR 2)
- School readiness goals and objectives
- Other program priorities
The statement will describe how your program developed and implemented a Program Improvement Plan that addresses school readiness goals and overall program improvement. This statement can be uploaded separately, or as part of the Program Improvement Plan.
Policy or Statement Builder
Develop a Program Improvement Plan Statement that describes your program’s process for program improvement. The Reflection Questions below will help you think about what you do in your program and why you do it. Once you have spent time reflecting on the questions below, you’re ready to build your Program Improvement Statement.
Reflection Questions
- How will the program prepare to develop the program improvement plan?
- How will the program gather feedback for the plan?
- How will the program identify the goals for the program improvement plan?
- What process will the program put in place to ensure forward progress on meeting the program improvement goals?
- How will the program use the program improvement plan for continuous quality improvement?
Statement Builder Resources
Use these optional PDF resources to reflect on your program’s practices and create your Program Improvement Plan Statement.
Technology Tips
Choose the way that the provided resources will be most useful to you.
You can:
Download the PDF.
Save the PDF.
Print the PDF.
Edit the PDF.
Where can you learn more?
- Maryland EXCELS Program Improvement Plan resources The Maryland EXCELS Program Improvement Plan form is available on the Maryland EXCELS website. You’ll also find additional resources for developing a Program Improvement Plan along with a sample plan.
- Maryland EXCELS and CLASS® CLASS® is used by Maryland EXCELS to assess and provide feedback to licensed Child Care Centers, Family Child Care providers and Public Prekindergarten programs.
- Program Assessments Positive teacher-child interactions are a critical component of the quality of care provided in a program. By conducting self-assessments, a program has the opportunity to identify teacher strengths and areas for improvement. This process is used to create individual staff development plans and ongoing program improvement.
