Pre-Kindergarten teacher Saharai Alvarez reads a story while Guilermina Buio and her twin 4-year old daughters Barenas and Stephanie Barenas enjoying the storytelling Thursday April 8, 2010. The Mother's Club located at 980 North Fair Oaks in Northwest Pasadena has a high rating in an existing program will not use the Step Rating System proposed by the state. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Walt Mancini)

The state may implement a new preschool rating system that would boost accountability, encourage higher quality programs and help parents make more informed decisions.

A 13-member advisory committee aimed at improving early childhood learning programs in California is currently collecting data to create a fair, accurate scale that would hold preschools accountable and be understandable for parents.

Officials will make recommendations for a grading system by the end of the year. The system could start as soon as July 2011.

"This would have a tremendous impact on outcomes for children as they move through the K-16 world," said Nancy Remley, administrator of the policy office for child development division of the California Department of Education.

Local preschool administrators said the county's Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) organization, which has programs across the county and in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier areas, may be used as a template for a statewide system.

"We are being looked at as a potential model to look at lessons learned and how we can scale this up to the entire state of California," said Cecilia Ayala, LAUP's chief operating officer, who was appointed to the advisory