Pine Summit Seedlings Preschool receives strong rating from State Quality Control Program
- Lake County News reports
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pine Summit Seedlings Preschool, a family child care in Cobb, received a Tier 4 rating on the Quality Counts California matrix, which measures the quality of child care programs in California.
A Tier 5 rating is the highest achievable.
Pine Summit Seedlings Preschool is Lake County’s first family child care to be rated. In December 2017, eight Lake County Office of Education State Preschools each earned a Tier 4 rating.
The Quality Counts California matrix measures the effects of the Quality Rating and Improvement System, or QRIS, a voluntary statewide program introduced into Lake County in 2015 through the Lake County Office of Education, or LCOE.
The primary focus of QRIS is to enhance program quality for all children involved in participating child care programs, and focuses on providing information, resources, and support to early care and education programs, in a consistent, statewide manner.
Angela Cuellar-Marroquin, LCOE’s coordinator for the Lake County QRIS and the Child Care Planning Council, and her staff performed the rating.
Cuellar-Marroquin explained, “When a child care site chooses to participate, they go through a process of coaching, improving and rating.”
Each program participating in the QRIS program is rated on child development and school readiness, social and emotional development, effective teacher-child interactions, classroom environments, professional development, and family engagement.
Jules Stout is the owner, director and teacher at Pine Summit Seedlings Preschool. She opened the center in March 2016 after the Valley Fire, when she recognized there was a need for child care in the Cobb Mountain area after Sugar Pine Preschool was destroyed.
“Jules is extremely passionate in her desire to provide high quality care to the children in her program. She takes pride in her work and the service she provides to the families in her program,” said Angel Coppa, QRIS coach from LCOE.
Stout has a master’s degree in child development. She received the “Family Child Care Provider of the Year” award in 2016 at the Early Childhood Educator Awards, hosted by Lake County Child Care Planning Council, a program administered through LCOE.
Coppa added, “Jules is a committed early childhood educator and I look forward to continuing our work together in our second year of this partnership.”
“I am pleased that our QRIS program under the strong direction of Cuellar-Marroquin is being introduced to so many early childhood educators (ECE) in Lake County,” said Lake County Superintendents of Schools Brock Falkenberg says. “Research shows that quality ECE is associated with higher measures of early language and math development, preparing our youngest members of Lake County for kindergarten.”
If you would like more information about the Quality Rating and Improvement System or about joining the Child Care Planning Council, please contact Angela Cuellar-Marroquin, LPC/QRIS Coordinator at 707-262-4162 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Find out more about the Pine Summit Seedlings Preschool on Facebook.