The Study Of The Quality Rating Of The Early Education Institutions In Michigan

With the development of the society and technology,the role of education has been highlighted gradually.Early education,as the beginning of education,has attracted the attention of all countries in the world.At the same time,its quality has been underlined.Assessing the institutions is an important way to promote the quality.There are some problems in early education rating in China.The rating participant is too single,the aims are not obvious enough,the information is not transparent,the index system of the institution rating is not perfect,and there is a lack of enthusiasm in self-evaluation.Michigan attaches great importance to improving the quality of early education in the state and has its own unique experience in quality rating.Mixed methods,multiple purposes,transparent information,detailed standards,and comprehensive self-evaluation,etc.form a complete system to promote the quality of early education in Michigan.This study starts with its background of early education institutions' quality rating and explores the reasons behind it,and interprets its content system.Then it analyzes the characteristics,implementation effectiveness,and deficiencies of its early education quality rating.Finally it derives some inspirations for the quality rating of preschool education institutions in China through the analysis of Michigan's practices.The study consists of four parts:The first part: The background of early education quality rating in Michigan.This section describes the background from both international and domestic levels.First of all,the international community pays attention to the quality of early education,which has created a wave of the pursuit of its quality throughout the world.So many countries have established and improved early education evaluation frameworks.In the second place,the quality of early education in the United States is not very satisfactory.The quality of the institutions can not meet the needs of the parents.The last is the appeal of improving the quality of early education in Michigan.The poverty affects its development of early education seriously,so the government has been committed to the construction of the quality rating to promote the early education in the state.The second part: The content of the quality rating framework of early education institutions in Michigan.This section details its basic content: rating goals,quality levels,quality standards,assessment tools,and rating procedures and methods.There are mainly three rating goals.First is to promote the quality of early education institutions,second is to help parents understand its information better,and the third is to integrate the whole early education resources in the state.The quality levels are mainly represented by five stars.The stars are determined according self-assessment report,which submitted by the participating institutions,and on-site verification(only 4 or 5 stars need to be verified on-site).The rating tools are process quality elements of institutions which are mainly measured by the Program Quality Assessment(PQA).The specific process of rating has six steps.The third part: The characteristics and implementation effectiveness of the quality rating of early education institutions in Michigan.This section describes its characteristics,implementation effectiveness and deficiencies.It has the characteristics of a mixed rating system,multiple rating purposes,transparent rating information,sound rating standards,comprehensive self-assessment,and effective rating process.It achieves some good results.More and more institutions participate and form a complete rating system.But there are some shortcomings as well.The inadequacy lies in the validity verification,which lacks some empirical studies and some in-depth studies on the relationships among these elements.The fourth part: The enlightenment of Michigan's experiences on the rating of preschool education institutions in China.This part mainly introduces the enlightenment of Michigan's early education institution's quality rating.According to the rating problems existing in preschool education institutions in China,the significance of Michigan's quality rating experiences in early education is proposed,which is the following points.First is to focus on the rating participants of institutions;second is to strengthen the rating purpose of promoting the quality;third is to establish a transparent and open rating website;fourth is to improve the standards for the institutions;fifth is to highlight the role of self-assessment.