Quality Enrichment Circles (QEC’s) are a group of your peers/colleagues who share ideas and insights, help each other solve problems and develop a common practice or approach to your content area. QEC’s are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and want to learn how to do it better.  Most professionals, like you, learn about new tools and developments in their field not by reading journals, but by consulting their colleagues.  Colleagues are not only sources of information.  They are also sources of judgement about how valid and useful information will be.  Each QEC helps "pull" insights from each participant when they need it, rather than "pushing" it out to them.  Most of us have had the experience of sitting through long discussions that were not immediately relevant. Even when there are gems of insights in these discussions, they are hard to pull out and remember. Most of us learn best when faced with a problem and need ideas to solve it, when we "pull" information currently relevant.  Your Quality Enrichment Circle is designed to respond to pull rather than push information out to people.

Participants engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information. They build relationships that enable them to learn from each other.  They develop a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, stories, tools, ways of addressing recurring problems—in short a shared practice that includes:  Problem solving, Requests for information, Seeking experience, Reusing assets, Coordination and synergy, Discussing developments, Documentation projects, Visits, Mapping knowledge and Identifying gaps.

Content Area Experts: Each Quality Enrichment Circle will be facilitated by a Content Area Expert, a respected peer who has the on the ground experience, extensive knowledge and skill in their content area. Special feature this year will include an opportunity for each QEC to interact with each other in a dedicated online community. In this network, users share their knowledge, ask questions, converse, and collaborate outside of  their meeting dates. It is a perfect resource for staying connected and providing and receiving useful information!

School Readiness Planning—Systems Approach, Data Analysis / Planning for Program Improvements, CLASS / Implementation Planning, Professional development to improve CLASS scores, Practice Based Coaching—Supporting Change in Teacher’s Practices, QRIS , Intentional Teaching—Planning for CLASS, Gateways (Credentials/Registry)

State Systems, Continuous Quality Improvement, Serving Dual Language Learners-Policy and Practices, Engaging Families

Successful Transitions, Dealing With Challenging Behaviors, RTI, Autistic Children, Revised Child Outcomes Framework

Content Will Be Driven By YOU!

Framework, Measuring family outcomes, Self assessment of current family and community engagement strategies

Family outcomes and school readiness, Data analysis and planning program improvements, Community resources to support family outcomes, Relationship based competencies for staff, Financial Literacy, Support strategies for Family Service Staff, Dealing with stress, Using technology to work smarter not harder, Two-Generation Approach

Content Will Be Driven By YOU!

School Readiness goals related to disabiities and mental health, Dealing With Challenging Behaviors, RTI, Autistic Children, documentation and record-keeping system(s), accessibility, disability services plans, health and safety, screenings, identifying children with disabilties, individualization, transitions, engaging families of children with disabilities, disability laws and policies, social-emotional development, mental health consultation tool, motivational interviewing, challenging child mental health concerns, trauma, adult mental health, Center on the  Social Emotional Foundations of Early Learning (CSEFEL)

School Readiness goals relating to health and nutrition, Family outcomes relating to health and nutrition, program planning, health tracking and recordkeeping, PIR, communication, Healthy nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention , Oral Health and dental homes, Health Literacy , Cooking Matters

Health Care Act, healthy active living, growing healthy, active play, nutrition assessment, food and nutrition assistance, nutrition education, nutrtion policies and procedures

School Readiness, Quality in Approaches to Early Childhood Development and Health, Family Partnerships,  EHS and Expectant Families, Home based and center based, learning environments, brain development, comprehensive services.