Since 1995, Boston EQUIP has been tracking quality in the five benchmark areas below. Click here for the Fifth Inventory of the Boston EQUIP Quality Benchmarks.  The Sixth Inventory will be released in 2010. 

Quality Benchmarks
The Quality Benchmarks are the middle stage of the Boston EQUIP cycle.

1. Evaluate
2. Set goals and benchmarks
3. Improve upon the quality

The Benchmarks exist in five areas proven by research to be related to children’s outcomes:
1. Accreditation
2. Education and Training
3. Facilities
4. Parent Engagement
5. Salaries

The Benchmarks are re-set every three years, using data collected from the Community Profiles Surveys.

Accreditation
Accreditation is a comprehensive approach to documenting and improving the quality of early childhood programs. The National Association for the Education of Young Children is the accrediting organization for classroom-based early childhood programs. Other accreditation organizations include the National Accreditation of Family Child Care and the National School Age Care Alliance.

Education and Training
Research has established a strong link between specialized training in early childhood education and improved social, emotional, and cognitive gains in young children.

Facilities
Investment in building and improving early care and education and school-age facilities is critical to both the quality of programs – whether they provide developmentally appropriate space in which to learn and grow – and the capacity of programs to serve an ever-growing demand. In 1999, Boston met its EQUIP benchmark of investing at least $4 million annually to improve child care facilities. Meeting this need may prove far more difficult in the near future, as the economy shifts and budgets tighten.

Parent Engagement
Parent engagement is a critical piece of education quality at all age levels – but it is a difficult characteristic to measure. In the past, Boston EQUIP asked programs to report the percentage of parents participating in a variety of activities linked to their children’s early care and education or school-age program. For the purposes of setting benchmarks in this area, the Boston EQUIP Advisory selected a few of these activities, representing different levels of commitment from parents, as proxies to measure the overall level of parent engagement in programs.  In the 2009 survey, EQUIP refined its question to reflect current research on family engagement that says it is the quality of engagement focused on the child’s learning and developmental progress that makes a difference. 

Salaries
Higher teachers and provider salaries are linked with greater levels of education and training and lower staff turnover – helping to ensure the quality education and consistent caregiving children need to learn and grown.

The Boston EQUIP Advisory has established benchmarks tied to the Boston Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard developed by the Crittenton Women’s Union (formerly Women’s Educational and Industrial Union) in its January 2000 report. Benchmarks for 2004 and 2006 assume an average of 3% cost of living increase annually.

Reports
First Quality Inventory (1995) - Please contact us for copies
Second Quality Inventory (1997) - Please contact us for copies
Third Quality Inventory (1999) - Please contact us for copies
Fourth Quality Inventory (2001) - Please contact us for copies
Fifth Quality Inventory (2005) – Click here to view