January Newsletter 2023

Teri Ann Cox
Executive Director of The Children’s Center

Dear Center Families,

It’s hard to believe 2023 has arrived! As we kick off the new year, I will be working with key members of the administrative team to transition from our Licensed Plus status to the new Granite Steps to Quality (GSQ) recognition program. Much like Licensed Plus, GSQ is a new voluntary quality rating system that recognizes New Hampshire child care programs for efforts to improve the quality of care for young children and rewards programs that strive to improve their practices and staff qualifications. It also allows families to identify programs with higher quality care and education, because quality experiences matter when it comes to optimizing each young child’s development. GSQ was developed by a public-private partnership and the program is administered by the NH Child Development Bureau. The Children’s Center is honored to have held the Licensed Plus status since 2006, and with our committed leadership team and staff, we look forward to being reassessed and awarded a GSQ rating in the months ahead. 

A benefit of entering Granite Steps to Quality is the NH Department of Health and Human Services lists and promotes the licensed GSQ programs and what “step” they have achieved. Incentives include quarterly monies that we can put toward ongoing staff development. Given the four years of implementation work we have done with the Pyramid Model, we have chosen that “pathway” as evidence of our aim to improve the infant, toddler, and preschool practices and environments. (We have included the Magic Moments program in the mix and will also go through the process of having our “out of school time” program assessed too.) I will keep you posted on our results. If you would like to learn more about NH’s quality recognition and improvement system, visit https://www.nh-connections.org/providers/quality-care-matters/. 

All the best to you and yours in 2023! 

Sincerely, Teri Ann