Winola Elementary School is among 142 public school-based early childhood sites statewide to receive the Gold Circle of Quality in fiscal year 2019 through ExceleRate Illinois, the state’s system for supporting continuous improvement among early learning providers.

Gold Circle programs have met the highest standards for quality in three areas: learning environment and teaching, administration, and training and education. Gold Circle programs are actively engaged in continuous quality improvement.

National Louis University has a contract with ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) to monitor all public school-based early childhood education programs receiving funding through the Preschool for All and Preschool for All Expansion portions of the Early Childhood Block Grant. Each site is monitored on a rotation for consideration for an ExcelRate rating. ISBE calculates ratings for public school-based sites only. ExceleRate Illinois gives each program a designation of Gold, Silver, or Bronze based on the information collected. Those ratings are renewed in each year between observations.