Provider Support
Run a stronger childcare program without doing it alone
Foundation First helps childcare providers across the region handle state requirements, find the right training, and improve quality, so you spend less time deciphering rules and more time running your program.
Meet every deadline
Turn your score into a plan
The problem
VQB5 is not the only thing on your desk
A teacher needs help, a classroom needs coverage and a family needs an answer, and then you get another VQB5 reminder in your inbox. VQB5 is at the top of the state's list. On yours, it competes with everything you have to do to keep the doors open.
The requirements are always changing. Registration windows, teacher lists, child and classroom lists, observation cycles, and score reports are required on the state's schedule, not yours. Miss one while you're covering a class, and the consequences can be drastic. Subsidy funding could be at risk, which means program income, which means the families who rely on you.
The paper work is always needed when you're short-staffed
Required paperwork arrives in the middle of covering a classroom, and it doesn't wait.
State guidance is written for compliance, not for you
The handbook explains the rule. It doesn't explain what to do next.
A score arrives without an explanation
Knowing your VQB5 score is not the same as knowing what to change before the next cycle.
Stay compliant without losing so much time with Foundation First
Know exactly what is required
Your program success manager walks you through registration, profiles, lists, and observation windows, so nothing gets left out.
Get told before the deadline, not after
Emails, calls, newsletters, and site visits. We follow up on what is outstanding, with the state because you have enough on your plate already.
Turn a your VQB5 score into a plan
We help you read your observation feedback, sort through the impactful improvements you can make, and help you create a plan to execute them before the next cycle.
What VQB5 is
Virginia Quality Birth to Five made simple
VQB5 is Virginia's system for measuring and improving quality in early childhood programs. If your program receives public funding, you're required to take part. If it doesn't, you can choose to.
It measures teacher and child interactions, through CLASS observations in your classrooms rather than a paperwork audit
It runs on an annual cycle, with a registration window, program and educator profiles, child and classroom lists, an observation period, and a score report
Your rating is published, so families comparing programs can see it
Foundation First is your local connection, because Ready Region North Central administers VQB5 across the eleven localities
Participation protects your funding, since noncompliance can put subsidy income at risk
“Foundation First helped me stop guessing and start knowing exactly what VQB5 needed from us. I finally feel ahead of the deadlines instead of behind them.”
— Center Director, Stafford County
Free coaching for your birth-to-three classrooms
Infant and toddler coaching
Foundation First is the North Central regional office for the Virginia Infant and Toddler Specialist Network. Our coaches work directly in your classrooms serving children birth through 36 months, alongside your area team, on the things VQB5 actually measures.
What they do
Coaching
A relationship-based process with mentoring and quality improvement plans, in eligible VQB5 classrooms serving birth through 36 months.
Training
For groups of educators in VQB5 programs, delivered face to face, online, or as a mix of both.
Technical assistance
Practical support and resources to help your educators get infant and toddler care right.
Two kinds of specialist
Paula Bellville
Amaia Hedd-Williams
Michelle Davis
Infant and Toddler Specialists
Work on coaching, training, curriculum, and the classroom environment itself, helping educators build a healthy, safe, nurturing space for the youngest children.
Tina Castro
Catherine Grimes
Infant and Toddler Behavior Consultants
Add child observations, developmental screenings, and parent education to that, for when a specific child or behavior needs a closer look.
Options
What is available to you
VQB5 and quality ratings
What VQB5 requires, how CLASS observations work, what your score means, and what happens next.
Learn more
Training and professional development
Courses and professional development for you and your educators, including CLASS, curriculum, and Spanish-language resources.
Learn more
Training events
Upcoming sessions across the region, with dates and how to register.
Learn more
Provider resources
Self-assessment tools, observation preparation, curriculum guidance, and ECSE resources in one place.
Learn more
Observers
Information for those working as VQB5 observers in the region.
Learn more
VQB5 Roadmap
Every VQB5 deadline and requirement on one page
Approval, onboarding, the registration window, what has to be complete before it closes, how observations run, when scores arrive, and what to do with them. One roadmap, so you can see the whole year instead of reacting to the next reminder.
The plan
Three steps to working with your program success managers
Tell us about your program
Whether you are a new subsidy vendor, already in VQB5, or thinking about participating, tell us where you are and we'll point you to the right area manager.
Review your responsibilities
Go through registration, profiles, lists, observation windows, and current state requirements together, so you know what is yours to complete and by when.
Use the available resources
Read your feedback, choose one specific thing to work on, and use the CLASS, curriculum, self-assessment, training, or coaching resources for support.
Guiding you
535 programs. Four success managers. One local team who knows the rules.
You're still responsible to run your program. What changes is you aren't reading state guidance alone, or guessing what a requirement means at nine at night. We keep the pieces connected so you can focus on the children in your classrooms.
Lead agency for Ready Region North Central, overseeing VQB5 measurement and improvement
Supporting 535 programs across eleven localities
Four program success managers, including one focused on family day homes
Notified when the state approves a new subsidy vendor, and we make contact from there
Resources for VQB5, CLASS, curriculum, observation, PD, ECSE, and Spanish materials
FAQs
Answers to what providers ask us most
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Talk to someone who knows VQB5 so nothing gets missed.
Lead Agency · Ready Region North Central
A coordinated early childhood system across eleven localities in North Central Virginia.
Ready Region North Central brings together local agencies, early childhood providers, and families to build a seamless, family-centered system. Our goal is to make it easier for every child and caregiver in our region to access the supports they need to thrive.
Learn more about Ready Region