ECQUIP - Early Childhood Quality Improvement Practices

Overview

ECQUIP Updates

In Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22), the ECQUIP process and support documents transitioned to the Education Monitoring Assistance and Compliance (EMAC) application within ADE Connect (formerly ALEAT).

The ECQUIP process has been assigned to ALL applicable programs based on those who have identified they serve preschool age children and who are current ADE ECE funding recipients.

ECQUIP is designed for and intended for those programs wishing to strengthen and improve their local early childhood ecosystems through intentional and purposeful collaboration with families, practitioners, and ECE system partners.

We recognize that at present time, some programs may not be ready to engage or have the capacity to engage in such a process. If a program is choosing not to participate in ECQUIP, the Opt-Out section of the ECQUIP Quality Enhancement Plan document will allow the program to designate this and provide a reason as to why they are choosing not to participate. The Opt-Out option is only available to programs/schools NOT receiving grant funding from ADE ECE (i.e. HQEL/PDG).

*Please be advised that upcoming funding opportunities provided through the ADE ECE division will require participation in the ECQUIP process.

ECQUIP Process

The Early Childhood Quality Improvement Practices (ECQUIP) process is supported by the Joint Position Statement from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS/SDE). This process looks at regularly evaluating early childhood programs as a shared responsibility to advance high-quality early learning.

There are four parts to the ECQUIP process. Although the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) outlines guidelines for conducting this process, the design of each program's ECQUIP plan is left to the local administration.

Four Parts to the ECQUIP Process

1. Annual Self Assessment of the early childhood program conducted by the local district or charter in concert with local early childhood programs and providers.

2. Annual ECQUIP Quality Enhancement Plan outlining implementation strategies to support identified needs captured within the self-assessment.

3. Submittal of the ECQUIP Quality Enhancement Plan to ADE ECE in the Educational Monitoring, Assistance, and Compliance (EMAC) system (previously submitted into ALEAT)

4. Annual validation visits to identified programs who are currently receiving state and federal funding through the ADE ECE (i.e. CLSD, HQEL, PDG awardees).

EMAC Resources

EMAC Resources

The ECQUIP process and support documents  are now in the Education Monitoring Assistance and Compliance (EMAC) Application within ADEConnect. ECQUIP has been assigned to ALL applicable programs based on those who have identified they serve preschool age children and who are current ADE ECE funding recipients. 

1. EMAC Access & User Roles

Once a district has been assigned to ECQUIP, the Entity Administrator for that district will need to give EMAC permissions to those who need access (including themselves) and assign EMAC user roles.

• EMAC Administrator Guide

2. EMAC Portal

After EMAC permissions and user roles have been assigned, users can navigate to the ECQUIP monitoring program within the application portal.

• EMAC Portal User Guide
• EMAC Micro-Training modules have been created by ADE's Office of English Language Acquisition Services (OELAS) available in the EMAC Support tab. 

3. Submit ECQUIP Self-Assessment & Enhancement Plan

• Complete the ECQUIP Self-Assessment

• Complete ECQUIP Enhancement Plan

• Copy/paste info from the Enhancement Plan into the EMAC form

• Submit Self-Assessment & ECQUIP Enhancement Plan (attach files)

ECQUIP Manual & Standards

ECQUIP Manual

ECQUIP is broken down into Five Standards:

• Standard 1: School and District Leadership
• Standard 2: Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development
• Standard 3: Classroom and School Assessments
• Standard 4: School Culture, Climate and Communication
• Standard 5: Fiscal Review

Self-Assessment

ECQUIP Self-Assessment Process

Step 1:  Assemble Team

The first step in the ECQUIP process is to convene an early childhood education team. Each local education agency determines locally who is to participate on the ECQUIP team. At the minimum, a team should consist of administrative members (Early Childhood Special Education, Title I preschool representative, principal, coordinators, etc.); Instructional members (preschool, kindergarten, first through third grade, Reading First coach and librarians) and Community Partners (Head Start, local childcare provider, district community education, tribal partner, community representative, parents, local Read On partners). Together, the team works to design a self-assessment process that meets the needs of the program as a whole.

Step 2:  Choosing a Standard for Improvement

Complete a self-assessment using the ECQUIP Standards and Rubrics document. Identify strengths and needs for each standard and identify activities for improvement for each standard. Quality Indicators are included with each standard to assist teams in identifying program needs and areas for improvement (see ECQUIP Standard, Rubric and Evaluation form).

3. Choosing a Tool

Once the team has determined the standard for self-assessment, ADE strongly recommends that the group augment the existing information related to the standard with data obtained from tools designed specifically for program and organizational assessment purposes. While not required, these can provide invaluable information for the team's quality improvement efforts. Each of the suggested tools aligns with the Program Guidelines for High Quality Early Education: Birth through Kindergarten and has research documenting their reliability and validity.

For example, if a team determines that it wants to plan for improvements in classroom environments, the team may choose to use the ECERS-R tool in the assessment process as it relates to Standard 4.

Step 4: Training

Each member of the ECQUIP Team and other related personnel should have the opportunity to receive training and information about the self-assessment tool chosen.

Step 5: Implementation of Tool

Each member of the ECQUIP Team and other related personnel should have the opportunity to receive training and information about the self-assessment tool chosen.

Step 6: Review Area Identified for Improvement

Based on the results of the formal assessment, the team makes decisions related to the program's needs and determines future direction of improvement process.

Step 7: Determine Strategies for Improvement and Create Enhancement Plan

Using the information gathered, complete an ECQUIP Quality Enhancement Plan and submit to ADE through the EMAC system by September 30th. The intent of the Quality Enhancement Plan is to assist ECQUIP teams with their long range planning for continuous quality improvement.

The ECQUIP process is meant to be an ongoing quality improvement process, where local education agencies determine in the spring semester, an area in which early childhood programs could enhance current practices or processes and decide how they plan to focus their efforts and resources for the following year.

Step 8: Reporting

Each district/charter reports on the improvements generated through their ECQUIP process each year on their Quality Enhancement Plan via the EMAC system. Funding distributions on Grants should be reflective of goals identified by the ECQUIP team.

Scores and data gathered from the instruments chosen used for self-assessment are intended for local education agency (LEA) and school use only and are NOT submitted to ADE/ECE.

Successful ECQUIP Teams

Quick Suggestions for Successful ECQUIP Teams

• Schedule meetings for the school year in advance to ensure the best attendance possible

• Celebrate accomplishments and determine goals for the next school year

• During the Spring, re-administer your program assessment tool(s) and the ECQUIP Rubric

• Work your plan

• Choose specific improvement activities and document on your Quality Enhancement Plan

• Instrument choice should target specific needs based on areas in need of improvement identified in the ECQUIP rubric (see Step 3: Choose a Tool

• Score your program using the Standards and Rubrics for Program Assessment to assist in identifying strengths and opportunities. Use the built-in time during ECQUIP meetings for collaboration, communication, goal setting, and review of dat

• Consider expanding your team (Does it include Preschool Development Grant Partners, Head Start, Community Childcare, local childcare partners, families, a business partner, First Things First staff, Title I preschool, local Read On partners, kindergarten teachers)

Educational Monitoring, Assistance and Compliance EMAC Portal User Guide