Community meetings on early learning set in Milford June 18

The Delaware Department of Education will host community meetings across the state in preparation for redesigning the state's quality rating and improvement system for early childhood education providers. The meetings aim to gather input from early learning center administrators, owners and teachers as well as families and community members.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the state's quality rating and improvement system, Delaware Stars for Early Success, commonly referred to as Delaware Stars. The system includes more than 450 early learning centers and family child care homes, helping to improve the quality of care for Delaware's youngest learners.

"We are proud of the work that these programs do every day, and to support early learning professionals in their efforts to provide high-quality early learning services for children and families," said Kimberly Krzanowski, executive director of the department's Office of Early Learning. "As we think about the next phase of support, we want to redesign Delaware Stars as a part of our own continuous quality improvement efforts."

The first step of this process is this series of listening sessions across the state. These sessions, tailored to specific audiences, will allow an opportunity for participants to share their experiences participating in Delaware Stars.

In addition to the public meetings, an online survey will launch soon. Information collected from the surveys and listening sessions will help shape recommendations that the department will share for feedback in the fall. Local sessions are listed below, by specific audiences.

Early learning center administrators will meet from 1 to 2:30 p.m., Monday, June 18, at Milford Public Library, 11 S.E. Front St., Milford. Early learning center teachers will meet from 3 to 4:30 p.m., June 18, at the Milford library. Family child care owners/staff will meet from 5 to 6:30 p.m., June 18 at the Milford library. Families/guardians will meet from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m., June 18, at the Milford library.

All stakeholders will meet from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Monday, June 25, at Dover Public Library, 35 E Loockerman St., Dover.