Learn & Grow, Alaska’s Quality Recognition and Improvement System (QRIS) for early care and learning, is celebrating its first anniversary! Learn & Grow officially launched in July 2016, allowing all licensed early care and learning programs in Alaska to enroll and begin working toward Levels 1 and 2 out of the available 5 levels of quality.
Learn & Grow provides technical assistance, specialized training, and financial supports to help early care and learning programs maintain and improve quality. Learn & Grow also provides families a mechanism to gauge the level of quality of individual programs when looking for care for their children.
Learn & Grow has met with success in its first year. Programs enroll voluntarily, and approximately 20% of eligible programs statewide are now participating in Learn & Grow. Of those participating programs, 63% have met requirements for Level 1, and 44 of the Level 1 programs are actively working to meet Level 2 requirements. Click here to see the list of all participating programs.
Learn & Grow’s current success could not have happened without numerous people who are dedicated to providing quality early learning experiences for Alaska’s children. Many thanks to early care and learning program administrators, thread staff, and stakeholder members for their continued assistance with development and implementation of Learn & Grow.
COMING SOON! Be on the look-out for the release of Learn & Grow Level 3 quality standards, available this winter!
For additional information about Learn & Grow, visit aklearnandgrow.org. If you are interested in enrolling your early care and learning program, contact Learn & Grow at info@aklearnandgrow.org or call (907) 265-3105.