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(Wilmington, Del.) New Castle County Head Start, Inc. (NCCHS) Bear, Lambson, Marshallton and Rose Hill centers received a 5 Star rating from the Delaware Department of Education. Delaware Stars for Early Success is Delaware’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) administered by the Delaware Department of Education. Star Level 5 is the highest level of achievement for programs in Delaware Stars. To reach a Star Level 5, a Head Start program must achieve a minimum of a 5.0 on each of the Environment Rating Scales (ERS) assessments for the program.
A QRIS is a method to assess, improve, and communicate the level of quality in early care and education and school-age settings. The goal of Delaware Stars is to invest in participating programs to increase access to high quality care for all of Delaware’s children, especially those from low-income families. Delaware Stars is a five-tiered rating system.
“I am extremely proud of the NCCHS team,” comments NCCHS Executive Director Jeffrey Benatti. “This past program year we not only achieved Star Level 5 for the centers that initiated the Stars review process but we also completed a federal review in February receiving scores among the top 10% of all Head Start programs in the country. This leaves no doubt that the staff at NCCHS are among the best in Delaware’s early education field.”
All eight NCCHS centers had achieved a Star Level 4 rating. The other four NCCHS centers, Absalom Jones, Claymont, Manor Park and Newark, will begin the process to apply for a 5 Star rating in the fall of 2014.
New Castle County Head Start, Inc. is now enrolling for the 2014-2015 academic year. The federally funded program provides high quality early childhood education services to children ages 3 to 5 from low-income families including children with disabilities. Children must be three years old prior to August 31, 2014 to be eligible. For more information, please visit www.ncchs.org or call 302-452-1500.