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Virginia Launches Online VQB5 Portal to Help Families Learn about Early Childhood Options
RICHMOND, VA– Starting today, families can now access information about quality and safety for more than 3,000 publicly-funded early childhood sites across the Commonwealth via the Virginia Department of Education’s new, easy-to-use online VQB5 portal. With information on public and private early childhood sites in every city and county in Virginia, the new tool helps families learn about the quality of the sites to help them choose the best option for their birth-to-five children.
"We know the importance of early learning and school readiness in setting up our children for success, and with the VQB5 portal, families will be able to make informed decisions when exploring and choosing an early childhood program for their children," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons. “With nearly 30,000 classroom observations made over the last year alone, the quality of the information available to Virginia parents is greater than in any other state in the nation. We are proud to equip parents with the information they need to help make the best early childhood decisions for their children.”
Virginia Quality Birth to Five (VQB5) is a nation-leading statewide quality measurement and improvement system providing information about child care, family child care, Head Start, and preschool. VQB5, created by state law in 2020, includes all public and private programs that use public funds to serve children from birth to age five.
The VQB5 portal includes information on all publicly-funded sites and any non-publicly-funded sites who opt-in. It enables families to:
- Easily find out whether a site has chosen a quality curriculum and access links to health and safety inspections.
- View sites’ quality rating and performance information.
- Review up-to-date data and information. The VQB5 portal will be updated annually and shared publicly each fall.
- Easily search for a site or program by program name, address, city, or zip code.
VQB5 results show that Virginia’s public-private programs positively impact more than 130,000 children under age five by providing warm, caring, and organized classroom experiences that actively promote learning, with 98% of 3,121 sites meeting or exceeding state expectations. VQB5 includes data from more than 28,000 rigorous classroom observations of teacher-child interactions completed in schools, child care centers, and family day home settings in 2023-2024, representing 2.1 million minutes of insight into what Virginia children experienced in infant, toddler and preschool classrooms last year.
The VDOE, in partnership with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, administers VQB5 and supports nine Ready Regions to provide regional implementation of the system. Through this public-private partnership, Virginia has built capacity within all communities to observe and provide feedback to every early childhood educator. Prior to VQB5, fewer than 1,000 classroom observations were completed per year. In 2023-2024, Virginia completed more than 28,000 observations, representing an increase of over 3,000%.
“With the launch of the VQB5 portal, parents all across Virginia will now be able to make more informed decisions about their children’s early education experiences and environments,” said Kathy Glazer, President of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation. “Virginia is making strides toward an early education system that prioritizes quality, access, and affordability for families so that they can work, attend job training, and pursue greater self-sufficiency while putting their children on track for success in school.”
VQB5 results show that Virginia has 79 sites that could be considered national exemplars based on their results on the Classroom Assessment Scoring System® (CLASS) measure. These sites received Exceeds Expectations ratings for providing the highest quality learning and skills development and include public schools, child care, family day home, and Head Start. 60% of the sites that received Exceeds Expectations were in private settings, which is critical as two-thirds of Virginia families now choose options in private settings that better meet the needs of working families.
In addition, 51 sites received Needs Support ratings and are required to participate in improvement plannings. Each of these sites will be assigned an expert to help them develop an individualized improvement plan and will be the priority for state-provided coaching through the University of Virginia as well as other resources.
To help all providers make improvements to their programs, VQB5 Site Quality Profiles provide site leadership with specific information on their strengths as well as their opportunities for growth. All sites in VQB5 are eligible for statewide improvement resources including an online Early Childhood Education Hub, classroom observer training, infant and toddler coaching, and free curriculum and assessment tools.
“VQB5 is a win for families, young children, and early childhood educators. Through this one-stop portal, Virginia families can now learn more about health, safety, and learning for more than 3,000 early childhood programs, making it easier for parents to find options that best meet their needs and put their children on track for success. At the same time, this VQB5 truly shows that early childhood educators, whether in a school, child care, or home-based early childhood setting, are educators, not baby-sitters, who are working hard every day to improve how they care for and educate our youngest learners,” said Jenna Conway, Deputy Superintendent at the Virginia Department of Education.
Prior to the launch of the VQB5 portal, most families could access very little information on early childhood quality; five out of six Virginia programs did not participate in the previous optional quality rating system. Now families can access more information than ever before with data on 3,121 sites available.
The VQB5 portal is located at earlychildhoodquality.doe.
10/8/2024
