Accountability for Quality: One State’s Experience in Improving Practice

South Carolina recently implemented a new initiative to improve the quality of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in primary schools. This article describes the initiative and examines evidence that such an effort can have a positive effect on early childhood program quality. Data from both classroom observations using the ECERS-R scale, and from teacher surveys, are used to examine the effectiveness of the quality improvement effort. Results indicate that training and support coupled with accountability requirements can facilitate positive changes within classrooms. Examples of positive changes teachers report they made as the result of this process are included, along with changes in ECERS-R quality rating scores.