Program Quality

About Program Quality

The Newark Board of Education Office of Early Childhood Program Quality initiatives include site monitoring and classroom assessments. Sites are provided support from supervisors and teachers are offered ongoing coaching to improve their practices and outcomes to provide higher quality services to students and families.

Program Reports

Annual Reports

The Newark Pre-K Program Annual Reports provide an overview on progress toward achieving identified Long Term Goals and Objectives each academic year. Data is gathered and reviewed on a quarterly basis to ensure optimal growth in each category. Additional information is included to provide an overview of: Who we are, Who we serve, and How we support all stakeholders.

Bimonthly Reports

Throughout the school year, Bimonthly Reports are distributed to school leaders and program directors to ensure everyone is abreast of programmatic expectations and outcomes. These reports summarize all of the program efforts as they have occurred in each service area every other month. Contracted providers, schools and teachers are highlighted for their efforts, accomplishments and contributions to successful implementation of high quality preschool programming. Recommendations and reminders are also listed to address areas of concern or in need of additional support.

Monitoring and Compliance

The Office of Early Childhood has identified key areas of concern, based upon contracts and site observations, that have been ongoing and need to be followed up with on an individual basis. The department developed a Monitoring and Compliance List that includes general concerns that have been addressed, monitored and resolved over the years. This list is not exclusive; moreover, the list allows the department to provide specific support to all sites and help them maintain quality services for children in a number of categories. The categories include: Licensing and Contract, Family Engagement, Safety and Health, Student Enrollment, Academics, Student Support, Staff Concerns and Other.

Program Assessments

ECERS serve as the most widely used early childhood environment quality assessment instrument in the United States and worldwide due to its comprehensive definition of quality and assessment through observation.

TPOT measures how well teachers are implementing the 3 tiers of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children in classrooms serving children 2–5 years of age.

The Creative Curriculum Fidelity Tool is administered to classroom teachers that met the ECERS-3 benchmark for two consecutive years and measures curriculum implementation.

Grow NJ Kids

The Newark Board of Education Office of Early Childhood provides support to our contracted provider sites that are participating in New Jerseys Quality Rating Improvement System. Grow NJ Kids was developed collaboratively by the State of New Jerseys' Education, Human Services, Health and Children and Families departments to raise the quality of child care and early learning across the state. To find a rated site near you, click here.