Quality Counts Core Strategies

While there is no uniform blueprint for all communities, all Ready by 21® Quality Counts sites are working on coordinated action in four target areas:

• Program Quality. The initiative is based on the belief that participation in high-quality programs can influence key developmental outcomes for children and youth. Therefore, assessing and improving quality at the “point-of-service” where youth and adults interact is at the heart of the initiative.
• The Youth-Serving Workforce. In order to build an effective, sustainable quality improvement system for youth programs, attention must be paid to building a strong, stable, skilled workforce. Each site will focus system-wide attention on professional development as well as other workforce issues including compensation, recruitment, retention, career pathways and organizational capacity.
• The Program Landscape. Building a quality assessment system that reaches across the range of youth programs in a community requires accurate information about the programmatic landscape. Therefore sites will be compiling basic information about services and gaps including who is served, what is offered, when programming is available, and why, where and how agencies do their work.
• The Policy, Resource, Leadership Landscape. All of the work of the Ready by 21 Quality Counts sites is playing out within a broader community and state context. A shared vision; supportive policies, structures, and funding; and leaders and decision-makers who are engaged and supportive are critical to building and sustaining a quality improvement system. The Ready by 21 framework and tools help engage leaders in “big picture” planning and decision-making on behalf of children and youth and build demand for quality services and supports among the youth-serving community and the public.