First, the Global Guidelines--now, a self-assessment tool. (education and care of young children).

In July 1999, a group of educators from 28 countries met in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, to work on global guidelines for the education and care of young children. After completing the work at this Symposium for the Education and Care of Young Children in the 21st century, seven working groups developed papers that were then edited and re-edited until a document was ready for publication.

Two organizations sponsored the Symposium: OMEP (World Organization for Early Childhood Education) and ACEI. In 2000, the two organizations published a booklet containing the Global Guidelines and three papers delivered at the Symposium. Also, the Global Guidelines were posted on the Symposium Web site (www.emich.edu/ecec21) and the ACEI Web site (www.acei.org).

In 2002, a summary statement of the Global Guidelines was developed. It was approved by OMEP at their 2002 conference in South Africa. The ACEI Executive Board approved the summary in Phoenix, Arizona, in April 2003. The one-page summary can be found at www.emich.edu/ecec21/ summeng.htm.

ACEI has undertaken another project using the Global Guidelines. In 2000, an assessment tool was developed to enable early childhood programs around the world to use the Global Guidelines to do a self-study of the quality of an individual center or group of centers. The Assessment Tool was organized into a rating scale format with indicators based on categories and items in the Global Guidelines. Before the Assessment Tool was ready for distribution, it was piloted in two stages. In the first stage, the Assessment Tool was translated into Spanish and piloted at two centers in Chile. Subsequently, the Assessment Tool was piloted in English at three centers in San Antonio, Texas. From these initial piloting efforts, items were identified for editing and improvement before a second round of piloting was initiated.

At the ACEI Conference in Toronto, Canada, in April 2001, a working group composed of delegates to the original Symposium and other interested persons met to review the Assessment Tool and make suggestions about how to conduct further piloting in a variety of countries. In the second phase of piloting, the Assessment Tool was used in Nigeria, Botswana, China, and at two sites in the United States. Extensive editing followed, using the feedback and suggestions from the piloting sites. A revised draft was reviewed by participants at the Global Guidelines working group session at the 2002 ACEI Conference in San Diego, California. After working on consistency, clarification of some items, and suggestions for space to be provided for information from individual sites, development of a more formal, professional form of the Assessment Tool was undertaken by Rolf Grafwallner. This final form was reviewed by working group members and posted on the ACEI Web site shortly before the ACEI Conference in Phoenix this April.

In the meantime, the ACEI Executive Board, at their October 2002 meeting, had empowered the continuing work of this group by appointing a Task Force for the Global Guidelines. The Task Force met for the first time in Phoenix and planned for further efforts using the Assessment Tool. The Task Force members planned possible assessment projects using the Assessment Tool in Mexico, Shanghai, China, Kenya, Ecuador, Japan, and the United States. It was hoped that additional participants would be solicited through ACEI representation at the World Forum sponsored by Child Care Information Exchange, held in Acapulco, Mexico, in May 2003. Additional efforts for dissemination of information about the Assessment Tool will be pursued in ACEI publications, publications outside ACEI, and other venues. Stay tuned for further developments.

--Sue C. Wortham, Co-Chair, Task Force for Global Guidelines