Parent Aware Project
The purpose of the Parent Aware is to create a quality rating system for child care centers and family child care providers in Minnesota. To meet this goal, Quality Rating Observers conduct on-site observations in child care centers and family child care homes in the pilot areas (North Minneapolis, all of St. Paul, the Wayzata school district, Blue Earth county and Nicollet county) to assess them for quality. Providing this type of technical assistance to child care programs helps to determine how well they meet the criteria of quality to receive a rating from Parent Aware, as well as provide the child care program with specific information about how to improve to provide better care and early education to young children.
The ATC Parent Aware observer team consists of five observers, including:
- Kerry Gershone, Training Coordinator for the ERS scales
- Rosemary Frazel, Training Coordinator for CLASS™
- Mary Beth Settergren, QRS observer
- Kristina Erstad, QRS observer
This research team has conducted many observations for Parent Aware over the past year using the (ERS) Environmental Rating Scales and the (CLASS™) Classroom Assessment Scoring System.
Related Resources
- Parent Aware Website
- Parent Aware brochure (2 pages)
- Read an article about Parent Aware in the Star Tribune newspaper from August 7, 2008
Funding
- The Parent Aware Pilot Project is funded by the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF), through the Minnesota Department of Human Services.
- The Parent Aware Evaluation is funded by the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF) and Child Trends.