10 Things You Need to Know to Find High-Quality Childcare!

I believe that the decision of choosing a child care center is the most impactful thing parents can do for their child. I also believe it is the one thing new parents tend to take for granted. One of my favorite people to follow on radio is Clark Howard. He speaks a lot on consumer protection and "Buyer Beware!" This is my early childhood article along the same lines.

As a professional in early childhood I have done just about every job in the field, I have been a teacher, director, trainer, and college-level program director and instructor. This aregicle will give you the ten most important things I think every parent needs to know. I have developed a class based on this information if you are interested there is imprmation at the end of this article. Let's start first with a list of those 10 things.

1.     Licensing and Accreditation

2.     What degree does the Director Have?

3.     Contract and Parent Handbook

4.     Ages and Stages Questionnaire

5.     Early Childhood Curriculum

6.     Teacher Credentials and Duties

7.     Classroom Orientation and Organization

8.     Lesson Plans, Class Routines, and Rules

9.     Cooking Experiences and Fieldtrips

10. Community Support and Partnerships

Each of these ten iteams take years and a lot of training to fully understand. Here I will spell out the basics so you can have a small working knowledge of what you are looking for.

1. Licensing and Accrditation-Licensing is the proces by which state governments allow childcare centers to operate. Each US state has a licensing program operated theough their early childhood programs. Your local child care resource and referal office is a good place to look for these centers. Accrditation is where licensed programs decide to become experts in the realm of caring for young children. The National Association for the Education of young children is one agency which accredits centers they have 10 standards which centers must meet and maintain in order to keep accrditation. tTher is a half step between licensing and accrditation which most states participate in it is called the Quality Rating System. This program helps childcare centers focus on some aspects which improve the quality of child care and help centers improve their care and education of young children.
2. What degree does the Director have? Seveeral years ago a friend's daughter was in a center, she asked me what kind of training I thought a director should have. I told her and then she said to me do you think being the manager of a Honey Baked Ham store is a good fit? I laughed thinking she was joking. She was not. The director had no experienxe with early childhood just management. If this is the case with a center I have only one piece of advice. RUN! The director of any center should have a minimum of a BS in Early Childhood, it is often difficult to find them, because most school systems pay better. However, this is the industry standard for directors.
3. Contract and Parent Handbook Professionalism requires child care centers to provide you with a contract spelling out the conditions of care including: information you will need to provide the center, days/times of operation, when and how much the fees are, and any particular explinations regarding your child's time away for the center at these times. In addition, there should be a handbook which details the arrival/pick up time, how long each day is recommenderd for your child to be in the center, meal plans, sample menues, curriculum used, emergency/disater plan information, general information about the center and staff, medication polilcy, vacation policy, behavior/discipline, and a sample lesson plan. This document should give you a detailed, clear and concise idea of what the center expects of you and what you can expect from the center.
4. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire is an assessment used by high-quality centers to get a dsnapshot of where children are on the developmental scale. Centers generally use it in once a year to assess where the children are on the developmental scale so they can focus their educational strategy to meet the needs of each individual child. This is the formal assessment in the field. Without doing this very detailed and through assessment centes are simply guessing and using checklist and other informal assessments to decide what children need. This lessens the quality of the program because the curriculum is to generalized to meet the needs of the individual child.
5. Early Childhood Curriculum Children from birth to age five go through an amaizing amount of development. Early Childhood Curriculum starts with observation of inidvidual children and leads to teachers creating an environment whcih promotes the ability of each child to work on and develop whichever area on the developmental scale they are working on within themselves. Unlike other forms of education early childhood is strictly based on where the child is on the developmental scale and helping them to work on that area. This is called in the industry"Developmentally Appropriate Practices". It simply means the educator is to recognize the age and developmental stage of each child and develop the environment appropriately or to move the child into an enviornment whch is appropriate. There are good ECE curriculums which encourage development. My favorite is by Addison-Wesely it is called the Active Learning Series. It details the developmental level of the children and gives good suggestions of activities and enviornmental set-up to promote learning for that specific age group. Helping educators to develop a variety of activities to promote children's interest.
6. Teacher Credentials and Duties Many states have adopted the National Association for the Education of YOung Children standards of requiring all lead teachers to posess a BS in Early Childhood Education or a related field. Teachers with this level of education can and do create a more educationally focus environment because they understand young children and how thy think. Teachers need to be focused on education and caring for the children. Many centers ask teachers to clean bathrooms, mop floors, and do other housekeeping taskes. There is no getting around the fact that being in early childhood demands a certain amount of cleaning and that includes children, their toys, clothing, and messes. However, teachers are educators not janitors. If they are expected to take part of their work days to clean bathrooms, windows, or mop floors that is time they are not using to focus on the educational process. This is unacceptable in today's world!
7. Classroom Orientation and Organization Early Childhood Classrooms should be organized, neat, and clean. You should as an adult be able to see quickly whre thing belong. There are things to look for to see if the room is appropriate for children. 1. Are the things children need at an apprpriate height and can they get to them easily without the help of an adult. 2. Are room decorations and information primarily a t children's eye level? 3. Are shelves and bins lined with pictures to enable children's ability to clean and put things away independantly? The main issue in the organization and orientation of the classroom is to promote children's ability to be independant. Are the centers divided between quiet and loud. The reading center should be across the room from the block area.
8. Lesson Plans, Class Routines, and Rules Every classroom from infants to the five year old classroom should have lesson plans posted on the wall for parents to see. Infant and one-year-old plans will be individualized. By the time the child reaches two plans will be more generalized, yet the teacher will still be focused on each child's development within the plan. It is important for there to be a balance in active and quiet times in the routien. Children do not naturally slow down, so the routine should reflect active-passive-active. For instance, naptime could be followed by potty break and then outside play. Classroom rules should be no more than two words, easy to understand, and general enough to cover every area. It is also nice if they are stated in positive terms and there are four or less. Generally the rules in an ECE classroom are: Be Safe, Be Neat, Be Kind.

9. Cooking Experiences and Fieldtrips I am a big believer in cooking experiences for children. Though they can be time consuming and messy. Cooking experiences promote reading and STEM activities in an early childhood setting. As a director I expected the teachers in the 3-5 year-old classtrooms to do one at least monthly. Most centers do not have field trips for children 3 abd tiybger. They are generally designed for foru and five-year-olds. These trips are to give kids actual experiences with the people, places, and things they are learning aboutr. As a director I expected 2 field trips a year usually one in fall and one in winter.

10. Community Support and Partnerships Community Support is another avenue for children to have axces to the people, places or things they are learning about. Inviting the community into the center gavve children a chance to meet them and learn about a variety of things. Whether it is Dora or Big Bird coming in to sing with the children, a local fire/police/postal worker coming in to talk about their jobs, or the local dentist coming in to talk about brushing teeth inviting the community into the center provides a wide-rage of opportunities for children to learn. It is especially nice if parents are invited to come in and share. Community Partnerships are where parents, grandparents, and the community in genral is invided to participate in the running and governance of the center. Many high-quality center have parent boards who represent the interests of the families in the cener voting on center activities, developing fundraisers to improve the budget, or doing work project like clearing the playground or painting rooms. In addition, some centers are supported by local busineses who provide commuters, books, and other items the cener may need. Though this is a necessity for nonprofit centers. Many for-profit centers will partner with local businesses by providing a discout for their employees in exchange for supprot in other areas.

These 10 areas detail the very basic things parents should be looking ror as they consider seeking a high-quality child care center. Though each of these areas have deeper and much more detailed information under them; these are the bare minimum I would suggest parents investigate.

As I stated earlier I am conducting a class at the Atlanta Birth Center from January 13-February 17, 2019. If you would like more information please message me or call me at 770-256-3281.

I hope this information helps and I look forward to hearing from you!