— from Susan Anderson for Children’s House —

Our Board of Directors wants to acknowledge and congratulate Orcas Island Children’s House on its recent achievement. On June 15th Children’s House learned that it had received a Level 3 rating in the Washington State Early Achiever Quality Improvement System – narrowly missing a Level 4 by four points.

Independent raters from the University of Washington spent two days in April observing and collecting data from the school to award points in five key areas evaluating teaching skills, positive interactions, child assessments and outcomes, environments, curriculum, professional development and family partnering.

Children’s House total score represents an important achievement. Our region is the last to be rated, and Children’s House total score ranked in the top 13 percent of all licensed providers across the state earning a 3 or better.

This rating is the result of an extensive two-year commitment our facility made to improving quality and would not have been possible without some financial assistance to support extra staff hours and classroom materials necessary to excel. An initial grant through OICF got the ball rolling and private donors supporting the ECE Initiative along with our local ECEAP office invested at the final stage.

We believe the accomplishment underscores the important synergy of a dedicated and talented teaching staff, tireless leadership — coupled with family and community partners – who strive to provide quality early education for our island children.

We are so proud of their accomplishment and congratulate the entire staff, families and students who together make this program extraordinary!

Michele Streich, Mary Greenwell, Penny Hawkes, Suzana Roach and Linda Erickson
Children’s House Board of Directors

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