The Virgin Islands (VI) launched a pilot of their QRIS, Virgin Islands Steps to Quality (VIS2Q) in the summer of 2013. In developing their QRIS, the VI looked back to local studies and data for inclusion in the standards and considered how they graded some of the indicators. Their goal was to find a better fit for the VI context and support continuous quality improvement by helping programs view movement throughout the QRIS as something attainable. The literacy standards were influenced by the kindergarten entry data collected by the VI Department of Education, as this was an area where children were scoring most poorly. They also included a standard for Dual Language Learners because they know they have increasing numbers of children for whom English is not their first language. In the area of professional development, they graded the steps knowing where most of their teachers would be when their programs entered the QRIS, based on data from a workforce study conducted for the Department of Human Services. Data were also used to inform the indicators in the Learning Environments Standard, based on a pilot study of quality in VI early childhood education settings conducted in 2009. This data helped inform cut-off scores for both the Environment Rating Scales and Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) assessment tools.
Virgin Islands
QRIS State Profile
This profile is from the Quality Compendium—a comprehensive resource for information about all of the QRIS operating in the U.S. and its Territories. It was developed by a partnership of the BUILD Initiative, the Early Learning Challenge Collaborative, and Child Trends.