Blended-Funding Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to provide state advocates and policymakers with strategies, tools, resources and options to make policy choices that facilitate the blending and braiding of funding streams to improve access to and length of children’s participation in full-workday, full-year, high-quality early learning programs that benefit vulnerable young children and working families. Though this tool focuses on child care specifically, sections 2&3 could be of use as examples of mapping current funding streams and considering how blending and braiding should work.
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Leading an Early Childhood Team Through the Quality Improvement Process
Article October 7, 2026
Published in Young Children, this 2024 article provides an operational guide for aligning state QIS requirements with broader national standards, quality grants, and staff incentives.
Much-Needed Changes in Child Care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems Should Promote Equity
Blog October 7, 2026
Blog authors Gina Adams and Danielle Ewen outline systemic flaws in traditional models. This 2024 blog details how traditional QRIS frameworks often inadequately support parents, underinvest in actual center improvement, and inadvertently exacerbate funding inequalities among diverse childcare providers.
Four Trends in Early Care and Education Quality Rating and Improvement Systems
Fact Sheet October 7, 2026
This 2024 brief evaluates Parent Aware (Minnesota's system) and synthesizes interviews across six states (Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington). It identifies critical, modern pathways for administrators looking to overhaul and redesign state frameworks.