about the project

The WestEd E3 Institute–Excellence in Early Education supports and strengthens the quality of early education services by promoting professional development of early childhood educators to ensure the highest quality early learning experiences for Santa Clara County's (CA) youngest children.

Housed within the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies, the E3 Institute accomplishes its goals through two projects:

• Power of Preschool (PoP)
• Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards (CARES)

Each project is described below.

PoP

Santa Clara County PoP enhances high-quality preschool opportunities to children in underserved communities and provides additional resources for families and early educators. A multi-year project launched in 2006, PoP builds on and integrates existing public and private early care and education programs and partnerships.

PoP also supports the leadership development of early educators and of the administrators that manage the PoP programs. E3 Institute designed, developed, and implements a Quality Enhancement Support Team (QuEST) model for each of the project's classroom sessions.

QuEST is composed of:

• the coach
• the early education program teaching staff and program administrators
• E3 Institute staff members

This collaborative triad approach allows PoP teaching staff members and administrators to identify and address quality enhancement areas in their programs through self-assessments and coaching support.

The E3 Institute administers funding to the PoP program so that program areas such as facility, environment, curricula, nutrition, and professional development changes can be implemented.

CARES

The E3 Institute launched the Santa Clara CARES project in 2002. CARES offers financial incentives to early educators for completion of unit-bearing coursework relevant to their work with children.

Financial stipends are awarded to early educators based on their education achievement. These stipends have proven to be significant incentives to qualified early educators toward furthering their education and professional development. Since 2002, the number of early educators who received higher-level stipends has increased significantly.

Overall participation in CARES includes the majority of early educators in Santa Clara County providing services in licensed centers and homes. CARES has influenced the leadership development of participating early educators by emphasizing the connection between higher education standards and better child outcomes.

The E3 Institute CARES project has been recognized as a state model because it uses a robust data collection and analysis system to continually meet the needs of its participants.