For Washington State, developing a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) was a long process. It started with the creation of a new agency, the Department of Early Learning (DEL), and a government-nonprofit partnership with a newly created organization, Thrive by Five Washington. Early Achievers received consistent legislative support throughout its creation. Its development was characterized by the notion that creating a more cohesive and integrated, high-quality early learning system required a collaborative effort.

However, the partnership met challenges and setbacks. One challenge that it faced was the development of strong and strategic partnerships. As a new organization, Thrive by Five seemed to have a very ambitious mandate: align and coordinate public and private investments, manage and oversee demonstration communities, pilot test evidence-based programs (e.g., home visiting), and advance early learning statewide. Additionally, it had a board that, albeit influential, knew little about early learning. Also, its executive director’s leadership style clashed with that of the DEL’s director at the time^{12Olson, L. (2019). In pursuit of quality: A case study of Early Learning in Washington State. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. https://local.gatesfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/In-Pursuit-of-Quality.pdf} . Although these leadership positions eventually changed, and greater collaboration was accomplished, the initial hopes for this partnership weren’t realized in practice.

According to Juliet Taylor, at the time the director at DEL, a pilot program was started in 2007 that felt chaotic and lacked consistency. A reason for this? Multiple agencies were implementing the pilot program at the community level, depending on geographic location. The state determined they needed a more consistent system approach in every region of the state. A major setback was the funding cuts resulting from the economic recession. At this point, teams had been hired and trained but now, even with the Thrive by Five funding, DEL had to scramble to keep this program afloat. The 2008 funding cuts brought a slowdown, and it became a time of learning and determination. During this period DEL and Thrive by Five needed to figure out what they would want for the next run of the QRIS based on what they learned from the execution of the pilot. During this time, Thrive by Five took on a more passive role, and after RttT, changed its focus to other issues.

Taking Early Achievers to the next level

Once the state earned the Race to the Top grant in December 2011, work around the QRIS was reactivated with $42.6 million allocated to its development over the next four years. The idea that the DEL had been working on for the past couple of years, now had the funding to become a reality, but again, it couldn’t be accomplished in isolation. The DEL contracted with Child Care Aware (CCA), a Tacoma-based nonprofit organization, and Cultivate Learning, from the University of Washington. Child Care Aware had a direct programmatic role, of technical assistance, and Cultivate Learning was hired to support coach training and to collect and evaluate data. That helped include evidence-based indicators and practices into the QRIS.