Laura Martinez 

For Laura Martinez, being a Quality Start Riverside County coach is her dream job.

In her previous position, in early learning administration, she always wanted to do more trainings and coaching with the teachers in her program but found herself limited by time.

With more than 20 years in the early learning field, Laura supports Quality Start programs to reach their goals and sustainability of quality. As a Quality Start Coach, Laura works with nearly 60 early learning providers in various capacities, including school districts, state programs, and family child care homes. Each of them has different quality goals, “so it’s really about meeting them where they are and then identifying where they would like to grow and develop” to help them accomplish one goal at a time.

Laura is intentional and strength-based when building a relationship of trust with a provider. “It’s about taking time to get to know them. Listen to where they are coming from, what their successes are, and where their frustrations are.”

Laura knows that the important part of coaching is collaboration. Quality Start Riverside County’s coaching model provides coaching supports in various ways, including through a facilitated Community of Practice. This group approach empowers providers with tools, resources, and positive energy to build their own quality initiatives and to continue these practices at their programs.

“We bring the site staff together to share ideas with each other, identify areas that they would like to work on, and provide information and resources on topics they are interested in. The exchange of ideas and strategies between site staff – teachers, coaches, and administrators – help open the lines of communication with in the group,” Laura explains.

In addition to group coaching, Laura and her Quality Start Riverside County colleagues are supporting providers one-on-one to work on individualized goals and celebrating successes. 

Laura thrives seeing the positive outcomes. “I love every minute of it, watching them grow” and seeing them move away from their initial hesitation to understanding the system and its processes.

Laura wants early learning professionals to know that joining Quality Start Riverside County is life changing. Quality Start provides teachers and administrators various types of coaching supports, resources, financial incentives, and training opportunities to help them improve the quality of their programs for young children and their families.