Step Up to Quality 2.0 is the product of a thorough review of the 5 Steps of our program’s process. A committee of early childhood education professionals guided this process, which included gathering feedback from three webinars (with a total of nearly 300 participants) and 120 survey responses. The proposed changes as outlined in the Revisions Guide have been reviewed and approved by the collective Step Up to Quality steering committee who represent both Nebraska Department of Education and Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
Step Up to Quality launched as Nebraska’s QRIS in July 2014. Since then, more than 650 providers have enrolled, thousands of early childhood education professionals have been trained and tens of thousands of young children across the state have benefited from growing in high-quality learning environments.
One of Step Up to Quality’s values is continuous quality improvement, and we apply that principle to our own team, too. A lot has changed in the early childhood education field since 2014, and we want to be the best we can be for the providers in our program.
In addition, revising our processes was a goal identified within the PDG Grant.
Early Coaching [Launching July]
We will be offering earlier coaching to providers beginning at Step 1 in the form of virtual meetings with a Step Up to Quality coach. Providers will meet with other early childhood professionals to learn about high-quality practices, gain motivation, prepare for on-site coaching, and have fun! Early childhood providers will create a network of support and gain knowledge about high quality practices.
Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale-3 (FCCERS-3) [Launching October]
The Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale-3 (FCCERS-3) will be used for ratings beginning on October 1, 2022.
Introduction to FCCERS-3 training is available — visit necprs.ne.gov/training-public to find & register for this training.
Step 2 Changes [Launching October]
The training requirements for Step 2 will be reduced! The new training requirements for Step 2 will be:
Launching Early 2023…Step Up to Quality 2.0!
Improvements you can expect:
New Draft Rating Request Forms:
(The original Rating Readiness Tool can be found on the Forms page.)