Early Childhood Systems Building Resource Guide: Program Evaluation and Continuous Quality Improvement
Technical Assistance in Systems Building for State Leaders
Technical assistance to support systems building, including strategic planning, is available through the Child Care State Capacity Building Center and may be available through other federal technical assistance centers. Please check with your State Systems Specialist for more information.
This guide provides an overview of key purposes, concepts, and tools of evaluation and continuous quality improvement (CQI) and shows why evaluation and CQI are valuable tools for state leaders. Included are state examples that illustrate how evaluation and CQI are important tools that, when linked to strategy, can build better connections between data, decisions, and actions.
This guide is designed to help states and territories understand more about evaluation and CQI. It is intended for early childhood leaders who are not evaluators, such as Child Care and Development Fund Administrators and their partners. The guide introduces a range of evaluation and CQI approaches and practices that reflect the richness of these fields. It also provides an overview of additional resources for deeper exploration, including how-to manuals and other instruction materials.