Seeds to Success

Experts agree that high-quality early learning experiences give young children the start they need to enter school ready for success. But today, licensed child care quality in Washington varies considerably, and the children who need high-quality care the most, often don’t get it.

To help improve the quality of licensed child care – in centers and family homes – and give families more information about the quality of their local child care options, the state Department of Early Learning and Thrive by Five Washington are developing Seeds to Success, a voluntary quality rating and improvement system.

A two-year field test of the system is currently under way in five communities – White Center, East Yakima (the two Thrive Demonstration Communities) and Spokane, Clark and Kitsap counties. The field test will be completed in June 2011.

Learn more about Seeds to Success, including how programs will be rated and what parents and children will get out of being enrolled in a program participating in Seeds to Success.

Results from First Year of Seeds to Success Field Test and Randomized Controlled Trial
When child care providers get one-on-one coaching and a modest amount of money to make changes to their program, the quality of the care they give children starts to go up – and pretty quickly, according the results of a randomized controlled trial done by Mathematica Policy Research in White Center and East Yakima.