Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) were designed decades ago to give more children access to high-quality early education programs. But “evidence is mounting that this supposedly evidence-based approach to the early education classroom experience is, at best, ineffective — and in many cases it may be racist and destructive.” 

That’s according to “The Quality Trap,” a new article by Mark Swartz in Early Learning Nation, an independent publication that covers early learning. In his piece, Swartz cites a lengthy interview with Policy Equity Group Vice President Kelly Etter, PhD, and points to a set of explainer videos she recently developed to urge the field to develop a new system to assess early care and education programs.

“While nobody opposes quality per se, the pandemic and the reckoning over racial equity have raised urgent new questions about QRIS,” Swartz writes. “Are the criteria fair and equitable? Do the systems succeed in expanding transparency and accountability? Can the flaws be remedied? Or is it time to admit defeat?”

For answers, Swartz turns to Etter’s “ingenious videos,” which use a classroom favorite — Duplo Blocks — to show the possibilities of approaching systems-change work with the creativity and imagination of play. “As any three-year-old in the block area will tell you (or gleefully show you), sometimes you have to knock it all down to rebuild,” Etter says in Early Learning Nation.

The videos, as Policy Equity Group also details in a recent blog post, explore three questions:

  • Why have QRIS failed to achieve their stated goals?
  • What are the systems’ key flaws?
  • How can we create new and better systems?

Etter developed the videos in preparation for a presentation she and Policy Equity Group Founder and President Jeff Capizzano gave at this spring’s InterAct Now: 2022 CLASS® Summit, a conference for leaders in early childhood education. They plan to present their QRIS research next month at the BUILD 2022 Virtual Conference.

“We don’t have to start from scratch,” Etter says in Early Learning Nation. “But if we’re fearless — as fearless as toddlers — we can reimagine something much better.”

To learn more, read Swartz’ article in Early Learning Nation and Policy Equity Group’s recent blog post, watch the videos, subscribe to our newsletter, and follow Policy Equity Group on Twitter and LinkedIn.