The main quality assurance component of the PoP program and one of the most important ways that PoP works to improve the quality of early education in the county is by providing innovative and individualized coaching and modeling for teachers in all PoP classrooms. This coaching and modeling component is called the Quality Enhancement Support Team (QuEST), and it includes three parts.
- QuEST coaches-Early Education professionals with extensive experience and expertise in developing, implementing, and managing diverse early education programs
- eQuEST members-Staff members from the WestEd E3 Institute who have expertise in early education, program development, and administrative systems and who design and implement best practice models at the local, regional, state, and national levels
- Site administrators-Administrators at each PoP site who oversee the delivery of high-quality early education services to the children and families in PoP programs
How QuEST works: Each PoP preschool and infant-toddler program is assigned a QuEST coach, and each coach is assigned an eQuEST member, with an effort to match the needs observed in each site with the expertise of the team members assigned to support that site. The QuEST coaches, eQuEST members, and site administrators work together to identify and address immediate concerns at each PoP site, and work together to achieve and maintain program quality by developing, implementing, and monitoring a Quality Enhancement Plan for each site.
Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP): QuEST team members use a comprehensive approach to build each QEP. Rather than relying on only one or two assessment scales, the team applies diverse and appropriate research-based tools to document both process and structural changes and to devise the most meaningful and purposeful enhancements for each site.
For further information on QuEST, please see the June 2011 PoP report, Making the First Five Years Count, by clicking here.
