About Us
Bright & Early ND is North Dakota’s Quality Rating & Improvement System (QRIS), a program of Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota. Bright & Early ND is part of a national movement to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in child care and early education programs across our state.
Bright & Early ND is an initiative led by the ND Department of Human Services (DHS) to ensure that North Dakota’s children receive the quality child care and early education they need for success in school and life. We recognize talented child care and early education programs for going above and beyond, and we deliver professional rewards for a job well done.
About Bright & Early ND
To maximize the learning that occurs in the early years, the North Dakota Department of Human Services launched Bright & Early ND statewide in 2015. Bright & Early ND is an organized and cost-effective framework to sustain child care capacity, develop the child care workforce, prepare children to enter school ready to succeed, and provide valuable consumer information to families.
Build & Sustain Child Care Capacity
Bright & Early ND rewards programs that demonstrate success, providing revenue to stabilize operations and encourage expansion.
Develop the Child Care Workforce
Bright & Early ND sets benchmarks for Program Directors, Lead Teachers and Caregiver qualifications, and we provide incentives to meet them.
Prepare Children to Enter School Ready to Succeed
Bright & Early ND is an avenue to maximize learning in the settings where children spend their day.
Provide Consumer Information to Families
Bright & Early ND translates a program’s accomplishments into one simple quality rating. Ratings provide an easy-to-use tool for parents to identify child care providers and early education programs who go above and beyond for children in our community.
How Does Bright & Early ND Work?
Bright & Early ND uses four Quality Standards to measure the quality of care within the child care and early education program. Each step has a set of criteria that builds upon the last to create a program that maximizes a child’s readiness for school. Good child care and early education programs combine play with learning. Each child has fun while developing the curiosity, social skills, self-esteem, and knowledge necessary to be prepared for school and life. Child care and early education programs volunteer to join Bright & Early ND. When they make this commitment, they have access to a variety of tools to help improve their program.
Quality Standards
Science tells us what young brains need to thrive. Bright & Early ND Quality Standards translate this scientific research into doable actions. These actions are divided into 4 steps, resulting in a clear ‘road-map’ for programs to maximize a child’s readiness for school.
Technical Assistance
One of the key advantages of Bright & Early ND is the one-on-one interactions with a trained coach. The coach shares feedback and provides assistance to providers and teachers to meet the Quality Standards.
Accountability
Programs gain recognition and resources for doing good things for children, not just saying they do good things for children. In Bright & Early ND, programs demonstrate how they meet the standards via formal observations.
Revenue
When programs demonstrate they meet the Quality Standards, they receive dollars to re-invest into their program to improve their services, retain their staff, or expand their capacity.
Consumer Information
This information gives parents an independent, expert resource they can use to identify and compare their early care and education options to find the best fit for their child.