The QCC County Program Profile provides county data from the Common Data File (CDF) and the Annual Progress Report (APR). For counties that are a part of a consortium, the QCC County Program Profile provides a combined view of the CDF and APR. Both qualitative and quantitative data are presented to provide a local view of early learning and care climate.

Quality Connections is an initiative of First 5 San Francisco, in partnership with San Francisco’s Office of Early Care and Education. Our vision is a city where all families have access to the highest quality of care and education for their children beginning at birth. To achieve this, we recognize and support the extraordinary passion, skill, and expertise early educators and the professionals that support them bring to this profession.

Through Quality Connections, First 5 San Francisco is working to ensure that all early learning settings are guided and supported in their quality improvement efforts. Quality Connections helps define and measure specific quality indicators for participating early learning programs, aligned to state Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) standards. Through this rating process, Quality Connections and early learning programs are able to target quality improvement efforts in the areas that will most benefit them.

Quality Connections partnerships provide training, technical assistance, and coaching to support early educators’ reflection on strengths and challenges and focus on areas that will systematically improve quality.

San Francisco has a unique history of supporting high-quality early care and education through local funding and through initiatives such as Preschool for All and Early Learning Scholarships. All city-funded early education programs participate in quality rating and assessment, training, and education supports through Quality Connections. In total, Quality Connections provides these services to more than 150 child care centers and more than 250 family child care homes/educators throughout San Francisco.

• County general fund through San Francisco
• Office of Early Care and Education
• First 5 IMPACT
• CDE QRIS Block Grant

• PreK-3rd Grade Alignment San Francisco Unified School District
• San Francisco State University
• City College of San Francisco
• San Francisco Child Care Planning and Advisory Council
• Children’s Council of San Francisco
• Wu Yee Children’s Services
• San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education
• San Francisco Department of Public Health
• San Francisco Inclusion Networks
• WestEd Assessor

The City and County of San Francisco requires QRIS participation as one of its embedded standards for funding. This baseline standard is shared with existing and interested providers with information about QRIS improvement supports to support them to meet those standards. Sites that meet the state and local standards become eligible to participate in the San Francisco Early Learning Scholarship and Preschool for All Programs, which provide additional market rate funding and local vouchers for early care and education slots.

Quality improvement supports are available to all Early Learning Scholarship sites. Supports include coaching, training, short-term technical assistance, reimbursement of training fees (for CPR and first aid), conferences, access to unit-bearing coursework, teacher action grants, and release time for specific interventions.

Sites participating in the Early Learning Scholarship at the Tier 4 level qualify for incentive layer funds regardless of setting type. Stipends are provided to teachers for some professional learning community facilitation and leadership activities. The City of San Francisco has a workforce investment program called EdVance, which operates independently from the QRIS. The EdVance program supports degree attainment through a cohorted, equity-based program for working educators. EdVance participants are eligible to receive stipends for class completion. Graduates of the EdVance programs are paid a $7,000 stipend for working in a Title V program for up to two years. “When [coaches] support us, [they] really, really look at the quality—what’s the best for the children.” –Jerry Yang, Executive Director, Kai Ming Head Start