Prime Time Palm Beach County

The Weikart Center has partnered with Prime Time PBC since 2004, helping them to build and lead a comprehensive Quality Improvement System (QIS). The professionals of Prime Time PBC fully manage their system, which involves training, self-assessment, external assessment, and TA Coaching. Programs are guided through an improvement sequence by Quality Coaches—Prime Time PBC staff members.

The Palm Beach QIS includes the following steps:
1. Baseline assessment
2. Quality Advisor assignment
3. Letter of recommendation for improvement
4. Program self-assessment
5. Program improvement plan
6. Implementation
7. Re-assessment

When this exciting partnership began, Prime Time had established quality standards for afterschool programs in the county. The Weikart Center created a set of customized assessment tools, aligned with those standards. The baseline data collection in the pilot year included 130 external observations from 38 sites, collected primarily by Weikart Center Assessors.

This was followed by extensive training, both for pilot sites and for local trainers who would carry out the rest of the intervention. Over time all data collection and nearly all training responsibilities have shifted from Weikart Center to local sources.

Currently Prime Time guides 93 programs through QIS. For more information, see links on the right.