| |
Managing a
Quality
Program |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Quality
care is important for the well-being of young children. Higher
quality
ought to result in better outcomes for children. But what is
quality
and how can it be measured? How good is the
quality
of child care programs in the United States today? Most importantly,
what do we know about the relationships between the
quality
of child care and outcomes for children? |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Quality
can mean different things to different people. Some focus on
structural features such as group size, child-staff ratios, teacher
qualifications, staff training, physical space, wages, and safety.
Others focus on how caregivers interact with children and the actual
experiences children have. Useful measures have been developed, so
that the many dimensions of
quality
can now be assessed with accuracy and confidence. |
|
| |
Reference (Early Childhood Research & Policy
Briefs) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Administrative
Styles
and
Roles |
|
| |
Although
all directors are responsible for administering a program, their
administrative
styles
are unique and, therefore, the outcomes of their programs are
markedly different. Some of the differences are based on the
roles
that are assigned to the directors, while others are based on the
personalities,
knowledge,
skills,
and
attitudes
of the directors. |
|
| |
(Dorothy J. Sciarra, “Developing and Administering a Child Care
Program) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Roles: |
|
| |
Directors
wear many hats. Some teach and may spend half of every day in their
own classrooms. Others never teach but are responsible for
administering several centers. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Directors
keep abreast of two or more sets of circumstances, staff members,
children, equipment lists, etc. Some may be responsible to an
industry, a corporate system, a public school principal, or a parent
co-operative association, while others are proprietors and owners. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Some directors make all the policy and procedure decisions; others
are settings where some policy is set by a school system or
corporate managing team. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
A director
in a large center may have an assistant director, secretary,
receptionist, and a cook. A director in a small center may do all
the record keeping, supervising, preparing meals, answering the
telephone, and planning. Directors work with half day programs, full
day programs, or even 24-hour care programs. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Program
goals range from providing a safe place where children are cared
for, to furnishing total developmental services for children,
including medical and dental care, social services, screening and
therapy, and activities that promote intellectual, motor, emotional,
social, and moral development. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
The
expectations of the families served by the program and the
expectations of the community will affect the center’s director’s
role.
Some communities appreciate a director who is active in
participating in the affairs of their community council, in lobbying
for legislative reform, and in seeing that the cultural backgrounds
of the children are preserved. Others prefer a director who focuses
strictly on center business or on preparing children to deal with
the demands of the elementary school curriculum. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Directors
must blend their personal philosophies with those of the community
to achieve a balance. This blending can occur only if the community
and the director explore both philosophies before agreeing on the
responsibility for administering a particular program. If the
philosophies of the director and those of the center are
incompatible, one or the other must be changed. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
The
director’s
role
can be very complex. A wide variety of people may need immediate
help for a variety of reasons. And meeting every need all the time
is impossible. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Directors
also have a responsibility to serve as child advocates. The
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Code of Ethical Conduct calls on all who work with young children to
“acknowledge an obligation to serve as a voice for children
everywhere.” (NAEYC, 1998) |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Return
to Top of Page |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
