For children, a high-quality program is one where they feel comfortable and accepted for who they are. It’s a place where they feel safe and loved. Maybe the most important factor for children would be the ability to have fun! For most parents, quality in child care is about their children’s health and safety first and foremost. Beyond that, parents define quality by looking at the effects it has on the children and their families. They want their children to be happy, loved, and respected. They want to have peace of mind while they are away at work. Some parents may also define a high-quality program by what the children are learning and how ready the children are when they enter Kindergarten. 

While there is no single definition of quality in child care, there are some overall elements of child care that are identified as critical to the well-being of children. These include: 

•  Health, safety and nutrition 

•  A well-maintained environment with opportunities for developing motor, social/emotional, language, and cognitive skills through play 

•  Opportunities for both active and quiet play 

•  Positive interactions  

•  Family involvement and communication 

•  Respect for diversity and difference 

•  An approach that “lets children be children” which means learning through play and experiencing a wide range of artistic, cultural, cognitive, social and physical activities. 

The experiences that a child has in child care can have important effects on his or her later social, emotional, and academic success. Research tells us that a baby's brain is not completely developed at birth. The brain develops based on a child's specific experiences. And the foundations of brain development happen in the first few years of a child's life. Children in high-quality child care are more likely to have positive experiences that help their brains develop to the fullest. 

The benefits children receive from being in high quality care last well beyond the preschool years. Children who are in language-rich environments that allow exploration, creativity, and discovery have opportunities to develop important skills and tools they will use for the rest of their lives. 

Young children in high-quality programs tend to: 

• Have better language skills 

• Have more developed reasoning abilities 

• Perform better on math and language tests in elementary school 

• Be less aggressive and better at getting along with others 

• Be happier overall 

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) is a teaching perspective in early childhood education where a teacher nurtures a child’s development based on the following: 

1. Theories of child development; 
2. What is individually important uncovered through assessment; 
3. The child’s cultural background (community, family history, and family structure). 

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) adopted this approach in 1987. NAEYC outlines five key areas of early learning practices for effective teaching, which include: creating a caring community of learners, enhancing and supporting children’s development and learning through teaching young children, planning curriculum to achieve important goals, assessing children’s development and learning, and establishing reciprocal relationships with families. 

Learn more about DAP here: https://www.himama.com/blog/what-is-developmentally-appropriate-practice/ 

Kentucky All STARS is Kentucky's five-star quality rating and improvement system for licensed and certified family child care homes. 

Child care centers and family child care homes start off with a 1 star rating and can keep that rating by continuing to follow minimum regulatory requirements. To raise to a 2 STAR rating, providers must meet additional requirements in Classroom & Instructional Quality and Staff Qualifications and Professional Development. (Check out the requirements for each level at https://kentuckyallstars.ky.gov/Documents/RatingSystem.pdf.) At each Level above 1 and 2, programs that take part in Kentucky All STARS must meet a required environmental observation standard, score required points in the listed domains and then may choose to be scored for the remainder of required points from a list of domains. Essentially, no child care program is exactly the same, and the journey to 5 STARS reflects that. 

Interested in learning more? 

Take the Introduction to the Kentucky All-STARS Standards! This course can be found at https://www.hdilearning.org/product/ece-060/. This brief introduction to the Kentucky All STARS standards is a required training to be eligible to receive quality incentives in the ALL STARS system. It is informational and no training credit will be issued. 

If you have additional questions or are curious about what the process might look like for your program, your Family Child Care Specialist is a wonderful resource! FCC Specialists can help you through all parts of the STARS process, including: 

• Connecting providers/assistants with training opportunities that would impact your program quality and STARS level 
• Assisting with joining professional organizations 
• Providing individualized coaching in Quality/Best Practices and Environmental Rating Scales 
• Annual Quality Reviews and renewals 
• … and more! 

View the WKU FCCN Training Calendar for more information and to register. 

The WKU FCCN delivers comprehensive, high-quality, and cost-effective face-to-face professional development opportunities. Our training focuses on topics of ongoing interest, recent innovations and initiatives, and current best practices in all content areas.

August 5th - The Science of Early Childhood

August 26th - Introduction to Kentucky's Early Childhood Standards

September 12th - Family Thrive 

September 23rd - Sensory Play/Development

This 6-hour course fulfills the mandatory orientation requirement for early care and education professionals in Kentucky. Successful completion of this course satisfies the Division of Child Care’s (DCC) new regulatory requirement for each center to ensure that every staff member has received training on first aid and CPR.

Watch our calendar for future dates.

Funded through Family Childcare Support Award SC 7362100001482

www.wku.edu/fccn