The Truth About QRIS: Flawed, Fair, or Fixable?

So my name is Erica Sakoshio. I am the owner and operator of Family Tree School Age Enrichment Program with my sister Christine. I wanted to talk a little bit today about our journey through Bright Stars, which is the Rhode island quality rating system in our state. So we're going to talk a little bit about the journey today that has been our experience at our program. I was a little upset with some of the changes that happened in the last few months and I was talking to family members about it and decided I wanted to maybe just kind of talk a little bit about it and share my experience with all of you. So I am joined today with Derek Rodriguez. He's going to ask a couple questions and we're going to kind of go from there.

When did you become involved with Bright Stars?

So we've been part of Bright Stars since its inception. Before it was called Bright Stars, it was the QRS. I'm going to say it was probably close to 10 years ago, maybe even a little bit longer. Now thinking back, it was probably about maybe 14 years. They started doing some work groups around it. There were many people from all over the country that had come in, experts in the field, in best practice for early childhood education. I did sit on a very small group. I was a representation of the school age programs at that time. And you know, and just really we just all talked about what was best practice and what should the framework look like. Most of the people in Rhode island that were on that group, I'd say 50% of them are still doing this and 50% are no longer in the field.

What did you feel was the biggest challenge in your time with the program?

I think originally I. That answer has changed over time. But at first I was a little upset that at the time it started, we were one of three after school programs that were nationally accredited through naa. When the program had started and when they started to develop the rating system, they decided that the only accreditation that would be valid and be counted was NAEYC accreditation, which is certainly a very valid tool. However, NAA also had a huge.

Stronghold in the country in terms of school age programs. And that was the most recognized accreditation at the time for that age group. But for some reason Rhode island didn't feel it was valid. And as I said, there were only three programs in the state that had that recognition. We were one of them.

Now what do you feel was your biggest success?

I feel like our biggest success is we did work very hard. We did go through the program about three years in our Greco location, became the first standalone after school program to receive five stars. According to what I know right now I still believe we are the only ones to have a five star afterschool program in the quality rating system through Rhode island right now.

So talk to me a little bit about the tiered reimbursement. How does that work?

So now in the last six months or so, DHS now will reimburse providers based on what star level they're at, which is a great idea because we do all agree that quality does cost money. Certainly a master level teacher or a state certified teacher is going to have a higher rate of pay than somebody who has a BA or an associate's. So we all agree on that. I think the challenge for those of us who have been in this system for a long time is when you would apply for an upgrade or a star increase.

We didn't have to wait eight months for a visit. So now it's six to eight months before your application is reviewed and a visit can go out. And I understand why because now the floodgates just opened. So perhaps there should have been some thinking around programs who have been in the system for a while. Maybe they wait a shorter period or those who are just applying to become part of Brightstar's had to wait a different amount of time before they could get in. And I just feel like the tools should be valued.

A probationary period, just like when you start a job, there's a 90 day probationary period.

Been in business, right?

There should just be some criteria because now what has happened is all of us who have been working right along as the way the system was created are now being pushed back because now, you know, this two star program, even with professional development trainings now they're limiting the number of spots that programs who have higher star ratings, we're not able to get into professional development trainings because they have to make room for all these folks that are coming in at a 1 star, 2 star or 3 star at this point. And I do want to make the record clear that I do have programs that are only listed at a two star in one or two of the nine or ten standards.

So yeah, I think that there just needs to be more thinking about how do we recognize programs that have been doing this for, for a long time. How do we make this fair and consistent? How do we keep the standards high? We should be raising the bar. That was the whole point of it. And a lot of us have invested a lot of time, a lot of energy I've spent, you know, half of my life in this field. And of that time, 10 of it, 11 of it, 12 of it has been invested in this program. And I really. I really was disheartened yesterday and so disposal. Disappointed.

Now, I understand the Bright Stars framework has been revised in some areas. Could you explain that a little bit?

Yes. So the two. The two areas that I felt like. Well, one I've already talked about was the teacher qualifications. The other thing that I felt was maybe a little unfair is making Ryals hybrid classes. So many of us have, you know, taking classes that were 36, 36 hours, they were 12 weeks long. Multiple programs, and I'm not just speaking for multiple programs, have sent their staff to that because that's the requirement. Now we are making hybrids and making it smaller and doing three classes instead of 12 classes. And you can do some online. I mean, I just feel like there's so many accommodations being made now for programs to lift up without having to do the work or requirements that many programs have had to do. And so that's. Yeah, that's not right. So I'd like to thank you for taking the time to. To watch this video. I hope it didn't come off as a rant. I think many programs, new programs, starting programs that have been in. Been in the Bright Stars for a while, those just a couple years in. Whoa. Are working hard. I just again, would like you to all think before we lower the standards, what is the implications for the children? What is that going to mean for our programs?

I hope more of you will get on board and talk about this. This is a lot of work. It's serious work. Many of us are in this for making sure that children are supported, that they're growing, that they're learning, that they love learning, and staff needs to be supported as well. So that's it. Thank you for listening.