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Mississippi State University

The Program

Testimonial

"I have been working with PureSafety for several years in the creation of these web based learning modules. I have worked with many sales representatives; I have found none better than Mike Lott. Mike Lott has been extremely supportive of our project and has taken the time to understand what our goals for the project were and continuously found ways to "make it happen". Our project has many unique features and the creativity in animating Little Man and Little Woman was essential to us. PureSafety's content development staff kept the integrity of the original idea and offered many innovative suggestions to help engage the learner throughout the modules. I have enjoyed working with this company and look forward to our future endeavors."

Partners for Quality Childcare Mississippi State University

Partners for Quality Childcare (PQCC) is a program funded by the Mississippi Department of Human Services and housed at the Early Childhood Institute at Mississippi State University. The program evaluates childcare centers serving low-income families to determine the level of program quality present at each center.

Each Center is evaluated on: physical environment, basic care, curriculum, interaction, schedule, and program structure. PQCC staff provides on-site technical assistance to childcare center directors and teachers specific to their areas of need based on the evaluation. The improved quality of teaching that accompanies additional educational experiences translates into improved learning experiences for children.

The Challenge

According to a report on the status of childcare in this country released in 2000 by the Urban Institute, Mississippi ranks high in some major categories.
  • In homes where mothers work, over 54% of Mississippi’s youngest children (younger than 3 years) are cared for in non-parental settings for 35 hours or more each week.
  • Mississippi and Alabama, among the 12 states studied, have the highest percentages of children under the age of 5 years in full-time care (65% and 64%, respectively).
  • Nearly 50% of preschool children living in low-income situations are in full-time care.
The results of the study were compelling and drove the need for a systematic plan to evaluate the settings in which many of these children spend their formative years. Beyond the required evaluations, it was determined that better training for teachers who work in childcare settings was needed in order to help improve the quality of the centers in the state. Due to the large number of rural childcare centers participating in the program, the Partners for Quality Childcare staff needed to explore other avenues beyond the existing instructor-led and hands-on training methods to provide technical assistance.

The Solution

In the fall of 2001, The Early Childhood Institute PQCC staff at MSU turned to PureSafety to help develop a series of web-based learning courses designed for childcare providers. The Institute provided the curriculum and PureSafety’s Content Development Team brought them to life in a series of animated, interactive courses.

Since the partnership began, PureSafety has helped to design the interactive courses that The Early Childhood Institute PQCC staff developed for its childcare giver curriculum covering Space & Furnishings, Personal Care Routines and Activities. The content of each of these courses is related to specific indicators of quality as defined by a nationally recognized set of rating scales, the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised ([ECERS-R] Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 1998) for programs serving children 2.5 - 5 years of age, the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale ([ITERS-R] Harms, Cryer, & Clifford, 2003) for programs that serve infants and toddlers. The web-based courses engage the learner with animation, learning activities and audio voice-over with limited text.

In order to make the courses more relevant for the childcare market and engaging for adult learners, PureSafety animated two characters that appear in all three courses - Little Man™ and Little Woman™, which were created by staff at the Early Childhood Institute. These characters lead the trainee through all of the areas examined by the scale and provide information as to how to improve the overall rating. Along with many other indicators, safety plays a key role in all three courses. Click on the link below to preview one of the Institute’s courses:

Early Learning Institute's Personal Care Routines course

The Results

In its fourth year, the program continues to demonstrate the success of the program model in generating data for the state and others to use in decisions related to the care and education of Mississippi’s children. The data reveals that the quality of childcare centers in Mississippi has improved through this program. This has tremendous implications for decisions made by policy makers related to the training opportunities provided to childcare center staff, the establishment of training outcomes and in doing so, how child learning outcomes can be positively influenced.

The Early Childhood Institute, Partners for Quality Childcare website continues to be a great resource for educating and providing information for childcare professionals in Mississippi and around the world, and was recently nominated for the Council of State Governments Innovations Awards 2003. Plans are in the works that include an extension of courses that cover all aspects of quality childcare and the addition of video clips to show viewers real-life examples of quality caregiver/child interactions.