As discussed earlier, parental involvement in the form of volunteerism, as well as community involvement, is strongly encouraged. There are no child assessments performed, however. The Center and Quality Child Care:

There are many ways the center provides quality child care. Their health policies are quite strict and each child's health is assessed when they are dropped off. The environment is designed specifically to facilitate learning. The activities are often child initiated and hands on, taking advantage of the benefits of High Scope research. Guidance is encouraging, with teachers and assistants there to support physically and emotionally the needs of the children, without hindering their natural creativity and learning experience. Discipline was appropriate, using encouragement and positive reinforcement when children behaved properly.

The Caregivers and Quality Child Care:

Each of the caregivers truly seemed to enjoy their job. The teachers, Debbie, Joy, Sarah, and Cate, appeared to be 100% committed to providing the best learning environment possible. All four teachers had early childhood development education, but none were certified teachers. Suzy was an undergraduate pursuing her education major and hoped to be a grade school teacher. . The assistant teacher, Suzy, was also instrumental in facilitating learning and her level of interaction with the children was very similar to the teachers. Debbie especially could often be seen working with the older children, one-on-one, giving each individual attention throughout the day. During a particularly difficult art project, one child had difficulty with scissors and was getting frustrated. Debbie didn't just assist him with completing the cutting, but worked with him on scissor skills. Later, during naptime, one child had forgotten her stuffed toy at home and was upset. Debbie's individual attention and patience...

The program was not as formerly structured as some programs, allowing the child's interest to have a significant impact on the activities for the day. However, the fairly high ratio of children to adults, especially for the younger ones, sometimes was a bit overwhelming for the staff. Where the teachers and assistant teacher were quite devoted, the teacher aides seemed to be 'filler staff' that needed better training as they sometimes seemed to not know how best to utilize their time.
Suggestions for Improvement:

Suggestions for improvement cover a variety of areas. The first is better training for staff members, especially teacher aides. Second, more stringent educational requirements, and perhaps certification requirements, would enhance the quality of experience coming from the teachers and assistant teacher. Third, alteration of the two-hour rest time. Although this was acceptable for many of the children, there were quite a few older ones who did not need a two-hour nap and could have benefited from a quiet activity. Fourth, a general facility emergency plan should be made and made known to parents. Fifth, a lower child to adult ratio, especially for the younger children, would help eliminate some of the periods of chaos.