Baby Steps

Baby Steps: Quality Infant/Toddler Care Project
Project Overview
July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2008

On July 1, 2003 the Office of Child Care launched the Baby Steps to Quality Infant-Toddler Care Project, the Baby Steps Project for short. The goals of the project are to increase the overall quality of center-based infant-toddler child care and to help centers maintain the services they now provide. Due to high staff costs and the financial difficulties of providing infant care, few centers have the resources to increase quality, which requires training staff and setting up a safe and stimulating environment. This project provides centers with financial assistance and an incentive to work towards increasing and maintaining quality over an extended time period. The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale – Revised (ITERS-R) will be used to set goals and measure progress.

Related Forms:

• Active Play Area Safety Checklist
• Attachment C 2007-2008
• Attendance Record
• Baby Steps Staff Information
• Indoor Safety Checklist
• Invoice 2007-2008
• Progress Report
• Progress Report SAMPLE
• Project Overview 2007-2008
• Resource Books
• Sanitary Food Service Checklist
• Training Report

Eligibility

         Initial Eligibility

• Licensed and licensed exempt, full time child care centers with infant and/or toddler rooms dedicated to children under the age of 2 years are eligible.
• Centers holding an Hourly Child Care license or providing child care in resort or gym/spa settings are not eligible.
• Centers that have been suspended from grant eligibility by the Office of Child Care are not eligible for the duration of the suspension.
  
  To remain eligible in future years, centers must:
• Meet the annual staff training goals and fulfill their quality improvement goals.
• If centers do not meet these goals by the end of each year, they will not be eligible to reapply for one year. They will need to have met all of the original goals before reapplying.

What participants will receive

• Centers will receive a $1200.00 grant for each group of four infants/toddlers.
• Each program will also receive $320.00 towards covering the cost of wages paid to caregivers while they attend the required Infant/Toddler Endorsement classes.
• Invoices will be submitted three times a year and payments will be based on the Average Daily Attendance of designated months.

Required quality improvement activities

• Training: Each center director and at least one infant/toddler caregiver per group of children must complete the Infant/Toddler Endorsement classes within the first year of participation. The endorsement consists of forty hours of class time, with four 10-hour courses.
  • If a caregiver leaves the program, the caregiver who replaces her must begin attending the first available course.
  • The classes are offered through the Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs) throughout the state. The courses can be taken in any order and staff may attend classes taught by CCR&Rs outside their geographical area. (It may be necessary to take classes this summer. You should check with your R&R immediately.)
  • All staff who complete the Infant Toddler Endorsement will be eligible for a $100.00 award through the Career Ladder program.
  • Centers are required to pay caregivers for class attendance based on their usual wage.
  • In the Metro and Northern regions, special arrangements are made to reserve space in the classes for Baby Steps participants. Only staff that are required by the project to complete the endorsement should take advantage of the special arrangements. If you do not know your CCR&Rs process for enrolling in classes, please contact them. Only the director and ONE caregiver per room are required to obtain the endorsement. All other staff are welcome to sign up for these classes if there are openings.
  • Failure to complete the endorsement classes in the first year of participation in the program will make the center INELIGIBLE for at least one year. To reenter the program, the training would need to be completed.
• Self-assessment: Centers must complete an annual self-assessment using the ITERS-R in each participating classroom.
  • A three to four hour observation is required to complete the assessment.
  • The director or a staff member who attended the initial orientation training must complete the observation.
  • If the Office of Child Care staff or consultants from the CCR&R have completed an ITERS-R in the center since July 1, 2004, the center does not have to complete a self-assessment for the room. They will use the OCC or CCR&R observation to set goals.
• Quality Improvement Goals: Goals are set based on the results of the ITERS-R.
  • One goal is chosen for EACH sub-scale of the ITERS-R.
  • When ever possible, choose items you have not worked on in the past.
  • Goals are listed on the Quality Improvement Goal Report Form and submitted with the Baby Steps application. Progress is reported on the Goal Report Form each time an invoice for payment is submitted.
• Equipment Purchases: At least 20% of the grant must be spent on equipment and materials for the classrooms.
  • All equipment purchases must be completed and receipts submitted with the second invoice.
  • Participants may use the remainder of the grant to pay for a portion of infant and toddler room costs, such as staff wages, fees for staff training, mortgage or utilities.
• Documentation: Centers must submit documentation of the following with each invoice:
  • Attendance records for the target month to support the Average Daily Attendance figure.
  • Receipts documenting equipment purchases made during the billing period.
  • Pay stubs or other documentation showing that staff have been paid for time spent in infant/toddler endorsement classes.

Invoice Process

• Invoices are submitted according to the schedule on page 4.
• When you send the invoice, you must enclose the following:
  • Invoice
  • Training Report
  • Attendance Record for the target month
  • Documentation of staff wages if they attended training.
  • Late invoices may not be processed until the next deadline.

Outside Assessments

• The Office of Child Care will complete ITERS-R’s at a portion of the participating centers during each year of the project.
• Centers will be notified in advance of all observations for the ITERS-R.
• The purpose of these ITERS-R’s is to assess the effectiveness of the Baby Steps Project in increasing the quality of care in participating centers and to provide the office with required financial and audit information.
• The results of the scales will be shared with the director and will be used to set NEXT year’s goals. The current goals do not change.
• Generally these observations will also be used to train new Consultants and/or to complete reliability checks.

Audit Controls

• To fulfill requirements placed on our office by state and federal auditors, attendance records may be matched to sign in/out sheets or computer records to check for accuracy of the Average Daily Attendance figures. These records will be checked on site. Appointments may or may not be made in advance.
• The correlation between self-assessment scores and those obtained by OCC staff and/or by TA Consultants will also be examined to determine the effectiveness of this program in increasing overall quality.