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I'm Erin Broderick and today we are going to talk about New York State school age accreditation you you what is accreditation program accreditation is the ultimate indication of program quality it also provides after-school professionals with performance indicators benchmarks of quality to guide program planning implementation and evaluation the accreditation standards are of a higher quality than the New York State sack regulations it's based on collective knowledge of the field research proven innovative and promising practices and the standards are aligned with many other tools including the qsa ypqa and the seekers tool why would you want to participate in accreditation accreditation lays the framework for existing quality improvement it provides a context for professional development planning it measurably strengthens after-school programs and services it serves as a foundation for improved outcomes for Children and Youth and fosters a better trained workforce you're probably watching this video because you're interested in going through the process so what are the expectations it is going to be expected that your team works as a team you're gonna have to try new things you're gonna have to be accepting of change you will raise the bar there will be monthly meetings that are specific to your site you'll be required to fill out the entire self-study tool all staff will have to participate in staff meetings led by the coach and you should not have to do anything outside of work hours so what is the process first we'll go through the steps and then we'll break each step into smaller pieces the first part of the process is to pick a coach followed by the self-study process we'll work on developing action plans compile all of your documentation submit the application and fees and then go through the endorsement visit first we'll talk about how to pick an accreditation coach you you can find a coach by going to the web address listed below all of our coaches go through at least a day long training through the network for you success if you're interested in becoming a coach to promote your own program or other programs you can contact Aaron my contact information will be at the end of this presentation so what is the role of the coach your coach will fill out the self-study tool they will work closely with the leadership when they're observing their your program they'll model expectations then will help to facilitate staff meetings they will help the leads come up with manageable timelines they will help the leaves with the paperwork they will help to create an action plan with all of the staff and they will make sure that you are prepared for your final endorsement visit you so what does the self-study process entail New York State accreditation has 26 quality standards and six foundation areas the standards are defined by observable program performance indicators these are all listed in the self-study tool any non-observable or administrative standards are determined by the pre-visit and on-site documentation review which we'll talk about later here I have included an overview of the quality standards all of the areas that are underlined are the foundation areas we'll be looking at safety health and nutrition indoor space and environment outdoor environment programming and activities supporting and inspiring learning and finally relationships most times when your coach goes through the quality standards with you you'll go in this order however depending on the needs of the program you may go in a different order the quality standards which are labeled quality standards in blue give indications of how you're going to meet each of the foundation areas for example quality standard one is the inside and outside environments are clean and safe from any observable hazards quality standard 25 is that staff members work well together to meet the needs of participants so again the quality standards are listed in blue on this sheet and the foundation areas are listed in black the self-study tool looks like this and can be found on our website the self-study process is a detailed examination of program it helps to engage stakeholders helps you to rate each standard between a zero which is unmet one partially met and two met by the end of the process everyone should have twos in each of the categories when you start the process don't be surprised if there are some ones and zeros that's ok we'll work on improvement plan the improvement plan is based off of what you have found in your self study tool if there are any areas that are a zero or one then you would want to create a plan to figure out how to get it so to your coach will work with you through this process to help your staff members come up with ideas on how to improve and to give suggestions your coach will also observe in the program at least four times during these observations your coach should be taking lots of notes these notes will help to facilitate the staff meetings and conversations with the lead your coach will also facilitate monthly staff meetings these meetings typically last one to one and a half hours and are usually right before program or right after during these meetings you'll go through the self-study tool you will take a look at your scores you will celebrate what is being done well and talk about how you got there you will also discuss the areas for improvement and come up with strategies to improve your areas for improvement and your strategies will be listed on your program improvement plan so who has to fill out the tool everyone involved in the process fills out the tool anyone that's working in your program fills out the tool you're gonna rate the tool from a zero to two as I mentioned before when you start the process not all will be twos you must be honest Poole should be filled out or at least the first part should be filled out before the first staff meeting because it'll be used to facilitate your staff meetings just a reminder the coach is not going to look at your tool this is just your notes for you to guide help guide conversation during the staff meeting let's take a look at the parts of the tool in the black bar at the top we have the foundation area as you can see on this one the foundation area is safety health and nutrition in each of the black bars it also gives you an overview of the foundation area for this one it's as a quality program promotes the safety health and nutrition of all participants all of the standards in this foundation area will relate back to safety health and nutrition the next is the gray bar this is the quality standard for this one the quality standard is the inside and outside environments are clean and safe from any observable hazards you if you look below 1a 1b and 1c are going to be the indicators these are the ways that we know that we're meeting the quality standard when looking at your indicators you're always going to leap read from left to right so for one see it says facilities furniture and other materials are never or rarely checked to ensure that they are safe and free from hazards if you feel confident that your program does check those then you would move to partially met number one facilities furniture and other materials are checked for safety on an ad-hoc basis so maybe you do check your materials but every once in a while or when something goes wrong if that's the case you would make your notes under the supporting evidence and give yourself a 1 if you feel that you do better than that then you would move to two met facilities furniture and other main materials are art frequently checked and maintenance is performed when necessary so if you know that your program checks your materials in your furniture everyday doing a daily checklist and you would be confident to put a number two in here you'll also see that it says staff handbook in the supporting evidence that might mean that your program may have a policy around this and you want to check your staff handbook to see what that might be so across the top zero go unmet one partially met and two men in the column all the way to the right that is where you're going to place your score your score needs to be either a 0 a 1 or a 2 please do not put half numbers in here the supporting evidence in notes box is the most important when filling in your evidence in notes you should need to put factual evidence so when it says the program is in compliance with all New York State OCFS regulations we might put something like the cleaner was placed in a locked cabinet after it was used or ratios were maintained the entire day if you had scored yourself a 1 maybe you would say the cleaner was left out on a table regulations were filed the rest of the day keep in mind that you're supporting evidence needs to be things that you've actually saw so when you're filling out the tool you should set it to your program directors should set aside some time for you to actually observe the program you should not be going back after program and filling it in there are additional standards found in the forum guide these are non observables you show that you meet these standards by completing the two file boxes the on-site and pre-visit typically the leads take on this work but the leads are able to delegate it to help the staff better understand some of your policies and procedures next we're going to develop the action plan so just to recap the coach has observed your program and filled in the tool the lead staff has observed program and filled in the tool and each of the staff have gone through and filled in the tool now that we have all of this information we're able to develop an action plan for growth during the action planning period we are gonna identify areas for improvement so again we'll be taking a look at those areas that we've scored ourselves zero and one on distant information we're going to come up with timelines action steps and decide who is responsible for completion here is an example so 11b is the standard participants are provided with a wide variety of activities from which to choose this particular program may have been struggling with this they may not have been planning at all but what we came up with were steps to complete this steps to make sure that standard 11b would be met some of the steps would be to assign staff planning days ensure that staff have materials to plan things like planning sheets and planning calendars set deadlines for when plans need to be completed discuss what centers look like post the activities schedule staff to prepare activities prior to children arriving this particular program had to also rearrange the tables in their cafeteria to ensure that they could set up centers they were looking to label all of their centers and also put books out in a neat and organized way under the person the site director was to delegate each of these things to some of the staff if you look across from number one in the timeframe we were looking to start planning by December and then if you look below we were looking to start some of the other things earlier in November under materials and resources it turns out the program already had the planning sheets and the planning calendars the person at the desk needed to just make sure that they had the information that they need when during planning time and feel free to take a look at 4d the standard the steps to complete the person the time frame and the materials typically once an action plan is completed when the coach comes back for their following observation they will be looking for these things the next part of the process is to compile all of the documentation as I had mentioned before there is a pre visit and on-site paperwork this can be found in the forms guide if you don't have in the prints it already it can be found at the link here in the forms guide is the on-site and pre visit checklist here are some examples of the things that you would need for on-site you're going to locate program participant files so these are just the files on your children emergency information evidence of parents staff communication accident reports medical permission forms and pickup forms there is a another webinar that goes through each one of these things in detail so if the on-site and pre-visit checklists are your responsibility you will want to watch that video as well the next part of the process is to submit the application and fees you will want to make sure that your coach has all of your documentation prior to the May 1st deadline all paperwork must be received by the network by May 1st and your coach is going to need time to review it your coach will give you a timeline as to when they would like it so they have enough time to review checks to be made out to the network for you success if you are unsure of the fee structure you can look at our website the video that I had mentioned earlier on preparing the file boxes can be found at the link below the final piece of the process is the endorsement visit on this day the endorser comes in and observes the program using the same self-study tool that the coach and all of the staff have been using there are no surprises what's an endorser is assigned the they work out a date with the program lead so you will know when he or she is coming on the day of the observation the lead will meet briefly with the endorser they will go through the paperwork with them there will be a staff meeting prior to the observation all staff are required to attend this meeting during this meeting the staff the lead and the coach will answer questions that the endorser asks you will have access to these questions prior to this meeting once the staff meeting is complete the endorser will do their observation this endorser will start observing right at setup of program and go pretty much until the end of program during this time he or she will move around the program they will observe individuals in all of the different spaces once the observation is complete there will be an exit meeting with the lead the coach and the endorser at this time the program will know if they have received well if accreditation has been suggested or if the program has been deferred just to recap during the staff meeting prior to the observation all staff coach and the endorser are required to attend the endorser will ask questions such as what did you learn from this process during the observation they will observe from setup to clean up it will be in all spaces and observe all staff during the exit meeting with the lead coach and endorser scores will be reviewed strengths will be celebrated in areas for improvement will be discussed so a typical endorsement day starts probably around 12 o'clock with the lead 1 or 2 o'clock as a meeting with the staff and typically ends around 5:30 or 6 o'clock again depending on what time your program starts and ends this schedule may be a little bit different your endorser will discuss this with you once they schedule the visit you there is an endorsement tip sheet which is found in the guide to after-school program accreditation at the link before this will give you some helpful information on what the endorser is going to do during the day and how you should respond what's next once the endorser fills out all of your paperwork and has the exit interview with you the endorser will submit their paperwork to the network a review panel of at least two people were will review it if all the paperwork is in order if there is enough supporting documentation a certificate or a deferral letter will be supplied to the program within 45 days if you should be deferred you have three months excluding the summer months to reapply accreditation is good for four years so on the third year you would want to start the process of coaching over again during the four years you're required to submit an annual interim report this report can also be found on our website and should only take a few minutes to fill out if you have any questions feel free to contact me I can be reached at five one eight six nine four zero six six zero or email at Aaron and network for you success also feel free to take a look at our website and the accreditation tab for any additional information you may need you