For the first time in California, thousands of early-learning centers in most of the state, from preschools to licensed child-care centers and homes, are in the process of implementing a common system to rate the quality of their programs.

The system is a result of the only statewide grants California received from President Barack Obama’s signature $4.3 billion Race to the Top program. The state was unsuccessful in getting significant Race to the Top funding for its K-12 schools, but won $75 million in two “Early Learning Challenge” awards to institute a range of reforms to improve the quality of its vast system of publicly and privately funded preschool and child-care programs.

As the state’s Race to the Top grant application stated, “California’s 1,729 local educational agencies and over 50,000 early learning providers span a far wider spectrum of size, infrastructure, and readiness for change than exists in any other state.”

[For more of this story, written by Michael Collier, go to http://edsource.org/2015/calif...s/72974#.VL8LUkfF-5V]