The Case of Nonprofits – Introduction  

The Case of Nonprofits: NPOs’ Partnerships, and their Role in Shaping Early Childhood Education Policy in Washington State

Introduction

Early childhood policy initiatives can create significant changes in the lives of children at their most important developmental age. Early Achievers, Washington State’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) is an example of how a policy can generate broad educational shifts toward understanding and supporting the quality of early learning within a state. Currently, 4,392 early learning providers are part of the Early Achievers network. This means that about 78% of center-based childcare and Family Child Care providers are enrolled in the state’s QRIS, and thus are on a pathway of quality recognition and improvement that benefits child development.

Enrollment status of early learning provider sites.
Figure 1. Source: DCYF. Enrollment status of early learning provider sites, classified by their Early Start Act timeline requirements.

While being a state-initiated policy, the development of Early Achievers required the effort of many stakeholders, including the nonprofit (NPO) sector. This case study will examine nonprofits’ role in shaping early childhood policy, more specifically, the development of Early Achievers in Washington. This case will begin with an overview of the history of the nonprofit sector in the United States, as well as its status. Section 2 will explain how NPOs can work together for social change. We place a special focus on government-nonprofit partnerships. The last section presents the case of the development and implementation of Washington’s QRIS, examining NPOs’ role throughout the process.

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