By JACK ARMSTRONG
News Editor

Western’s Teaching Research Institute and Child Development Center was recently awarded a five-star rating by the Oregon Quality Rating and Improvement System.

TRI-CDC, Western’s child care center, is located in Todd Hall. Students, staff, faculty and community members’ children between the ages of 30 months and 10 years can spend their day at the center enrolled in a variety of classes and activities while their parents attend or teach class across campus.

TRI-CDC director Ingrid Amerson said, “having TRI-CDC on campus is a huge draw to perspective faculty and students.”

For 35 years, the center has been open to Western’s community of parents. According to Amerson, the center offers an opportunity for busy student-parents to “know that their child is being cared for in a safe and stimulating environment”
The center also offers an opportunity for Western students, who are focused on education and early childhood development, to volunteer and hone their skills.

Students can “volunteer in our program to enhance their skills working with the children, and learn about developmentally appropriate practices through hands-on experience,” Amerson said.

Amerson also said that students have the opportunity to “work in our Center when positions become available,” allowing for interested students to gain resume-building job hours.

TRI-CDC offers new parents a wide range of parenting-centric seminars and classes. According to Amerson, parents have the chance to learn more about the child-rearing process at the center at least twice a year.

The draw of TRI-CDC for prospective students and faculty with children has been boosted by the Oregon QRIS awarding the center its highest rating of five stars.

Oregon’s Early Learning Division oversees the Oregon QRIS, a rating system developed by early childhood development experts from Western.

The award is a certification by Oregon state officials that TRI-CDC has “demonstrated to the state, the community and the families that we excel to the highest levels in the
essential standards that support quality learning for all children,” according to Amerson.

“We worked hard to achieve this award,” Amerson said.

TRI-CDC spent more than a year compiling a portfolio that demonstrated the center’s proficiency in a number of state standards such as learning and development, family
partnerships and business practices among others.

The five-star rating lasts for three years, at which point TRI-CDC will have to prepare another portfolio for review. Amerson said the center will definitely “go through a process for the rating to be renewed.”

The center is currently looking to expand its operations to further benefit the Western parent community.

Amerson said that by mid-spring the center will be “refreshing both our indoor and outdoor learning classrooms with new furnishings to give us an up-to-date environment.”

TRI-CDC is also partnering with other programs such as Central School District, Community Action Head Start and Polk County to open the Central Child Development Center.

The new center is focused around teen parents with infants and toddlers. Amerson said “enrollment will include children of Central High School teen parents” as well as infants and toddlers of Western students and faculty.

Funding for these expansions will come in part as a direct result of the five-star rating. As a reward for the TRI-CDC receiving five stars, the Oregon QRIS awarded the center $3,500 in grant money.

The work toward improvement is unfinished even after the rating was announced.

“Continuous quality improvement is the heart of the QRIS. Our field is changing quickly with new research helping us determine how to best meet the needs of our children and families,” Amerson said.

For more information about the TRI-CDC, how to enroll a child, or the center’s programs, contact Ingrid Amerson at iamerson@mail.wou.edu or call 503-838-8783.