Show Notes
What does it mean to focus on teacher-student interactions? How can it help? What’s QRIS and how can it be used to implement improvement for both children and educators? Today’s guests are Nasha Patel and Sarintha Stricklin, and their conversation will address these questions.
Nasha is a managing director at Watershed Advisors. She most recently served as Senior Advisor for Planning and Strategy at the Oregon Early Learning Division and previously served as the Deputy Assistant Superintendent of Early Childhood Strategy at the Louisiana Department of Education. In that role, she led the strategy to increase access to and quality of care and education for children in Louisiana through the state’s unified birth-to-five system.
Dr. Sarintha Stricklin serves as the Director of the Jefferson Early Childhood Network supporting leaders of publicly funded programs in south Louisiana. She has worked in early education for over 30 years as a teacher, administrator, trainer, coach, and consultant. Currently, she leads a broad coalition of thought partners who are collaborating to increase access to high-quality early care and education across neighborhoods in Jefferson Parish Louisiana.
Listen to the episode to hear about Nasha’s white paper on QRIS, what Sarintha has seen a state/local partnership do for her parish, and how Louisana’s model can have effects across the country
Topics Discussed in This Episode
[00:00:26] Today’s guests, Nasha Patel and Sarintha Stricklin
[00:01:47] Nasha’s upcoming publication on QRIS
[00:03:39] The pitfalls Nasha’s paper identified
[00:08:18] How different pieces work together to create a final outcome
[00:09:51] Creating continuity for children
[00:15:05] Intersections of class, building relationships, and educator/child relationships
[00:18:10] How much time has gone by since the law passed and the rollout was underway
[00:18:30] Empowering childcare facilities
[00:23:37] Lessons for anybody thinking about making this shift to their QRIS systems
[00:28:41] What the state/local partnership in the Louisiana QRIS means for Sarintha’s parish
[00:32:40] How Louisiana’s model can create a shift across the country
[00:34:08] The benefit of networks and network leaders coming together
[00:37:45] How focusing on teacher-child interactions impacts quality
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