RISING STARS FOR ME Q&A

Rising Stars for ME Resources

Who is in charge of Rising Stars for ME?

This is a common question, and we understand that it can be confusing! Rising Stars for ME is Maine’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). As a program, it is operated as a partnership between Maine Roads to Quality Professional Development Network (MRTQ PDN)...

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How often do I need to update my E-Portfolio?

This week we’ll continue our discussion of how a program should reapply with Rising Stars for ME. See last week’s Tip of the Week for the first part of this topic.  We understand that the E-Portfolio can take time to put together. At the same time, considering that...

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This week we want to hear from you!

We have a QUICK survey for you to give input about what you want to see for future Rising Stars for ME Tip of the Week questions! If you have Director of Record Access (DoRA) or DoRA Assistant, there are a few additional questions about your experience with the Rising...

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I want to begin working on the new Standard 7: Health, Safety, Physical Activity, and Nutrition. Where do I start?

In Standard 7: Health, Safety, Nutrition, and Physical Activity, beginning at Star 3, programs are required to complete an annual nutrition and/or physical activity baseline self-assessment and then develop and implement an action plan.

Programs at Star 3 should develop an action plan to achieve one strategy for improvement. 

Programs at Star 4 should develop an action plan to achieve two strategies for improvement. 

Programs at Star 5 are recognized as having met this requirement through the appropriate accreditation standards.

Programs can choose a self-assessment tool that meets their needs and can choose a goal(s) related to health, safety, physical activity, and nutrition. Maine programs have access to two free, high-quality programs that can help them develop goals: 

Go NAPSACC is an online tool for programs serving children from birth through age five. Go NAPSACC provides self-assessments, action-planning steps, family handouts, and training videos. Go NAPSACC can be used independently, or programs can receive support from a trained consultant. To learn more about Go NAPSACC, watch this video. If you’re interested in starting an account, email karen.bergeron@maine.edu to receive a registration invite.  

Let’s Go! from Maine Health provides healthy tips and tools to help children live by 5-2-1-0 every day. As part of a community approach, it provides resources for early care and education and out-of-school time settings. Let’s Go! provides a self-assessment focused on a variety of health and nutrition topics, a program goal template for planning strategies, family handouts, and training videos. Programs can access the tools directly through the website.

Revisiting self-assessments and action plans annually allows programs to celebrate the success of the changes made and to plan for more improvements.

Programs can keep their self-assessment and goals within the program’s overall Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) plan or upload the documents separately for this Standard.

As always, reach out to risingstarsforme@maine.edu with questions.

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