Home > Promising Practices > Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Education Standards (CARES)

Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Education Standards (CARES)

A Good Idea

Description

Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Education Standards (CARES) is a First 5 professional development program designed to increase the quality of early childhood education in California. CARES focuses on increasing the quality, effectiveness, and retention of early educators. The program targets a variety of early care and education (ECE) staff including home-based, licensed, and license-exempt Family Child Care (FCC) providers. The program incentivizes ECE staff to pursue training and education by providing stipends. The program also partners with local organizations to make training and support available and accessible.

CARES was funded from 2000-2009. It was a First 5 California matching-fund program with 44 County Commissions. In 2010, the State Commission approved up to $36 million in funding for CARES Plus for three years (2010–2013). CARES Plus is an extension of CARES. It focuses on outcomes and accountability, the expansion of the CARES Database, and the expansion of partnerships with higher education institutions. First 5 programs are funded through Proposition 10, which adds a 50-cent tax to each pack of cigarettes sold.

Goal / Mission

The program's mission is to improve the quality of early learning programs by focusing on increasing the quality, effectiveness, and retention of early educators.

Results / Accomplishments

From 2000-2007, CARES issued a total of 86,948 stipends. During the 2008-2009 Fiscal Year, 44 California counties served a total of 8,777 early educators seeking to further their education. Twenty-seven counties funded/supported ECE unit-bearing courses. Seventy-nine percent of community colleges participated in the Curriculum Alignment Project, which aimed to establish a statewide lower-division program centered on evidence-based teaching practices. In addition, 78% of California State Universities participated in the Baccalaureate Pathways to Early Care and Education program, which aimed to establish a statewide upper-division program centered on evidence-based teaching practices.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
First 5 California Children and Families Commission (First 5) and First 5 County Commissions throughout California
Primary Contact
Kris Perry, Executive Director
California Children and Families Commission
2389 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite 260
Sacramento, CA 95833
(916) 263-1050
caresplus@ccfc.ca.gov
http://www.ccfc.ca.gov/Help/caresplus.asp
Topics
Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education
Organization(s)
First 5 California Children and Families Commission (First 5) and First 5 County Commissions throughout California
Date of publication
2010
Date of implementation
2000
Location
California
For more details
http://www.ccfc.ca.gov/pdf/press/FY0809AnnualRepor...
Target Audience
Adults
Additional Audience
Early Educators

Related Promising Practices

  1. Early Care and Education Program
  2. First 5 Power of Preschool (PoP)
  3. Summer Bridge

More

Related Content for: Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Education Standards (CARES)

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.