In 2019, First Up launched the Early Education Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP), a quality improvement initiative providing tailored technical assistance and other resources to center- and home-based child care providers in Philadelphia. Funded by the William Penn Foundation¹, EQUIP is designed to support child care providers in improving the quality of their programs and moving up in levels in Keystone STARS, Pennsylvania’s child care quality rating and improvement system.

This report draws from an evaluation of EQUIP. It describes the methods used for the evaluation and key findings related to the role of coaching in supporting child care quality improvement in Philadelphia, including how coaches and providers think about quality, the role of coaches—including their role providing emotional support to providers—and programs’ capacity to engage in quality improvement.

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Footnote

¹The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the William Penn Foundation.