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Step Up To Quality Stories

Step by Step…You’ll Get There!

They say the hardest step for a runner isn’t the last one of a marathon, as you might imagine. It’s actually the first one out their front door.

Gathering the gumption and courage to take action and do more than just dip your toe into something is universally hard.

At Step Up to Quality, we’re here to help. Once you have reached your goal and experienced your first rating, you may look back and wonder why you didn’t take the leap sooner. The process is definitely hard work, but it’s completely achievable, and the journey itself is more than worth the effort.

We’re examining each step to help make Step Up to Quality less overwhelming. In this first of a three-part series, we’re outlining Step 1.

First Things First: Orientation

The great news is that you can complete all the things required for Step 1 online.

We recommend going through the orientation first. Just like your first day at a new job, orientation will help you get acquainted with the Step Up to Quality program. We’ll go over the history of the program, the goals of the program and all five steps. And we’ll introduce you to the Nebraska Early Childhood Professional Records System (which is the next part of completing the requirements for Step 1).

Orientation is offered free online. Please refer to these instructions if you have any difficulties while registering.

Part 2: Officially Enroll

After you’ve completed our orientation, it’s time to officially enter your program’s information into our system. The Nebraska Early Childhood Professional Record System — NECPRS for short — tracks your progress in Step Up to Quality, and, even better, it keeps the professional development milestones of your staff organized in one place. Directors can now use NECPRS to share relevant training opportunities with staff, add training certificates to staff records and invite employees to sign up.

The first part of the online application process is entering your program information. After your program has been set up, each staff member completes their own record in the system. Staff members just have to have an email address; it takes each person about 10 minutes to complete the process. If your staff members are pursuing a career in early childhood education in Nebraska, this record keeping system is invaluable.

Step 1, Check!    

That’s it! You’ve reached Step 1 when you’ve completed orientation and entered your program’s information into our online system. It’s really that simple, and now you’re eligible to sign up for quality foundations virtual coaching and on your way to receiving financial incentives (after Step 2) and other great benefits of being a part of the Step Up to Quality family.