Program Administration Scale (PAS)

The Program Administration Scale® (PAS ®) is designed to reliably measure and improve the leadership and management practices of center-based programs—the only instrument of its kind to focus exclusively on organization-wide administrative issues. In the third edition, the authors share updated information supporting the reliability and validity of the instrument and make key revisions based on the recognition of whole leadership as the guiding framework for the effective administration of early childhood centers. In addition, the PAS indicator language was reviewed from a racial equity and social justice perspective. This edition reflects feedback provided by practitioners from across the country who have used the PAS for program self-improvement, research, training, college instruction, accreditation facilitation, quality monitoring, mentoring, coaching, organizational consulting, and policymaking.

Using a 7-point rating scale (inadequate to excellent), this easy-to-use instrument assesses 25 items grouped into 9 categories: human resources, personnel cost and allocation, operations, screening and assessment, fiscal management, organizational growth and development, family and community partnerships, relational leadership, and staff qualifications.

Book Features:

• Measures whole leadership, recognizing the interdependent nature of administrative leadership, pedagogical leadership, and leadership essentials.
• Places a greater emphasis on administrative practices that support inclusion, equity, and cultural and linguistic diversity.
• Emphasizes leadership routines that provide opportunities for shared decision-making and distributed leadership among staff.
• Demonstrates a positive relationship between the quality of administrative practices and the quality of early childhood classroom environments.
• Responds to the workforce crisis with supports that promote teacher leadership, enhance career development, and protect time for reflection, planning, and peer learning.

Teri N. Talan is the Michael W. Louis Endowed Chair and Senior Policy Advisor at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership and a professor at the National Louis University. Jill M. Bella of Bella Mattina provides consultation to local and state initiatives focused on leadership topics in early care and education. Paula Jorde Bloom (deceased) was the founder of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership and professor emerita at the National Louis University.

Praise for the PAS—

“Applause! The authors have done a great job of creating an objective instrument based on concrete criteria.”

—Gwen Morgan, Senior Fellow for Child Care Policy, Wheelock College

“What a wonderful tool for discovering strengths as well as providing the pathway for improvement!”

—Kay Albrecht, Senior Partner, Innovations in Early Childhood Education

“The PAS is an outstanding coaching tool for our state administrator credential. Our administrators now have a common language and shared focus for program improvement. The PAS helps directors become systems thinkers. This is the missing piece to increasing quality!”

—Diana Courson, Associate Director, Arkansas State University Childhood Services

“I found the PAS to be very comprehensive and useful in alerting me to documentation and other areas of administration that I needed to change. It is a good precursor tool to NAEYC Accreditation.”

—Linda Jo Platt, Director, Community Nursery School

“Measuring quality on a 7-point scale provides for tiny steps that should encourage people to keep improving. I love this tool.”

—Bee Jay Ciszek, Principal, Cardinal Bernardin Early Childhood Center

“The PAS is absolutely instrumental for early childhood programs. Where other tools give policy or high-end practice, the PAS provides both the policy and incremental steps to implementation. Program leaders can use the PAS to prioritize and set goals in easy to understand sequences. This tool is a game-changer for leaders, stakeholders, board members, and anyone looking to truly assess and plan for high-quality programs. Don’t miss it—everyone should know the PAS definition of a system!”
—Margaret Gustafson, Connecticut Office of Early Childhood