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Top Takeaways is a series of recaps from important conversations, town halls, webinars and virtual events about early learning.

On Tuesday, Aug. 9, the Hunt Institute hosted the third and final conversation of the series on the early childhood workforce, in partnership with . Dan Wuori, senior director of early learning at the Hunt Institute, opened the panel and moderated the conversion along with Bank Street鈥檚 Emily Sharrock.

The following experts shared their perspectives on the flaws inherent in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and how to build better, more equitable systems:

• Stephanie Curenton, executive director of the (CEED) and associate professor at Boston University
• Alexandra Figueras-Daniel, research assistant professor and bilingual ECE senior policy specialist at the (NIEER)
• Sarika S. Gupta, senior researcher at the at Bank Street College of Education
• Maki Park, senior policy analyst at

Here are 5 takeaways:

1. 鈥楺uality鈥� lacks a unified definition. 鈥淗igh-quality learning experiences are essential for fostering healthy child development,鈥� Sharrock said, but we shouldn鈥檛 pretend we all define quality the same way. Every state in the U.S. has its own child care system, and no two use the same definition. Within states, different stakeholders differ in how they define the term. 鈥淚t is important to find clarity on what measures of quality are meaningful to you,鈥� said Park, adding that family, friend and neighbor (FFN) care is often overlooked in standard formulations or derided as a last resort.

— The Hunt Institute – Early Childhood (@HuntEarlyEd)

2. QRIS is flawed. Alternatives exist. QRIS, which originated in the 1990s, was a top-down phenomenon by design, neglecting to listen to and learn from the educators devoting their professional lives to child development. Immigrant and bilingual learning environments have, in particular, been given short shrift.

Redefining quality, Curenton said, demands a pivot from ratings to a 鈥渃ycle of improvement.鈥� She described the , which addresses 鈥渢he ways in which interactions between teachers and students, or among students themselves, are equitable, anti-biased and culturally responsive.鈥�

Gupta celebrated the shared ownership achieved through the pioneered by Elena Soukakou, which evaluates the quality of interactions within the learning environment.

3. Inclusion should be integrated into every system. Today鈥檚 teachers are being resourceful, innovative and effective, and however you define quality, there should be more opportunities to validate and honor their work, Figueras-Daniel stated.

Park urged participants to prioritize language access and cultural responsiveness, and to recognize that educators鈥� practices and insights are valuable, even if鈥攅specially if鈥攖hey don鈥檛 speak English well, don鈥檛 have formal education or have undocumented immigration status.

4. Professional development promotes equity. Historically left out of the quality conversation, the culturally and linguistically diverse workforce isn鈥檛 a problem to be solved. It has an important role to play in this process 鈥� especially in this time of acute teacher shortages.

Figueras-Daniel鈥檚 research in New Jersey has found teachers don鈥檛 feel empowered to use children鈥檚 home language in the classroom. She sees considerable room for improvement in making teachers feel their experience is valued, and stressed the importance of equipping teachers with the resources to make their own decisions about how they want their practice to grow. Park envisions more realistic career ladders.

5. Brave conversations like this will lead to change. The pandemic and racial reckoning of the past few years give us an opportunity to take a new look at the systems in which young children are learning.

Huge problems come with the segregation that exists in early childhood education. A racially equitable system, Curenton said, will address access, quality and the workforce in new ways. The title of her recent book co-authored with Iheoma Iruka sums up the approach needed to reinvent our systems:

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 蜜桃影视. Learn more here.