An Inquiry of Pennsylvania's Keystone STARS
A team from the University of Pennsylvania was funded by the William Penn Foundation to conduct an inquiry of Keystone STARS. The goal of this inquiry was to provide a broad look at Keystone STARS to inform future revisions and evaluation of the system as part of Pennsylvania’s Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant (2013-2018). The inquiry focused on providing an overarching look at Keystone STARS with respect to three major areas:
- Child outcomes. This inquiry examined the relations between Keystone STARS and children’s overall developmental competencies.
- Quality components. This inquiry investigated the extent of evidence from theory, empirical research, and practitioner expertise linking each of the Keystone STARS quality components to child outcomes.
- Systems approach to rating quality and guiding improvements. This inquiry examined overall features of the system that could be improved to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the system.