Keystone STARS Performance Standards and Program Manual Updated
The Office of Child Development and Early Learning has released updates to the 2020 Keystone STARS Performance Standards and Program Manual. The new standards and manual are effective August 1, 2020.
This article was updated on August 21, 2020, to include a training webinar.
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Since the previous Keystone STARS Performance Standards and Program manual were released in 2018, OCDEL worked with a variety of stakeholder groups to review the Keystone STARS quality indicators. The groups included school age child care, family child care, quality coaches, and STARS Think Tank members. The feedback received was used to guide the clarifications and edits made to the Keystone STARS Performance Standards.
The clarifications and changes are being made to:
Improve the readability of the STARS quality indicators through adding bullet points and wording changes
Further clarify the intent behind the STARS quality indicators by including additional information to certain indicators
Provide greater detail as to how quality indicators can be applied to specific provider types such as school age child care, group child care homes, and family child care homes
Provide thoughtful questions for self-assessment by providers and to guide discussions between programs and their Quality Coach
Further define Professional Development (PD) Registry participation requirements
Further clarify the role of PD Plans in a program’s Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Plan
Integrate the PA Early Childhood Education (ECE) Career Pathway into the staff qualifications quality indicator
Provide clear definitions of commonly used terms through the addition of a Glossary of Terms
Retract previously defined timelines for implementing higher staff qualifications
Provide Pennsylvania Early Childhood Education (PA ECE) Career Pathway for easy reference
Detailed information about the new standards and program manual can be found in OCDEL’s full announcement and in the following documents:
A provider-facing recorded webinar that offers an overview of the updated 2020 Keystone STARS Performance Standards is now available online. The webinar is roughly 33 minutes in length and can be accessed at any time on YouTube.
ELRC Region 5 Quality Coaches will be on hand to answer questions from providers and offer additional support. More information will be on the ELRC Region 5 website as it becomes available. To contact the office, call 1.888.340.3572 or 412.350.3577.