By Pam Schaffner The assessment team in PA is often asked if they have any tips to make meeting quality standards easier. Since they have experiences visiting many programs in their professional careers, they have seen many programs employ strategies to make things easier, more efficient, and more effective. Implementing quality can be stressful or...Read More

The Pennsylvania Key has partnered with the Council for Professional Recognition to enhance and streamline the Child Development Associate (CDA) process in Pennsylvania.Read More

Natalie Grebe A key component of a program’s sustained quality that may not receive consistent attention is the director’s observations of classrooms. It is best practice for directors to observe classrooms and review their findings with teachers. Most directors will say the biggest reason for not being able to do this as well as they...Read More

Kitty Syster Everyone knows it is a great idea to have teachers from the same classroom work together when creating lesson plans, but it is not always easy to find time for them to work together on this during the day. Although technology cannot replace the value of working together in person, there are many...Read More

Leah Zabari Do you think the experiences you had as a child and the important adults in your childhood have influenced you as an early childhood educator? Do you think the experiences and relationships from your childhood played (and still play!) a role in your professional goals and philosophy? I encourage you to share some...Read More

By Lisa Mulliken I sometimes drive my five-year-old granddaughter to preschool early in the morning. During our short drive she usually starts off a conversation with, “Mimi, did you know….?” Recently our conversation started with, “Mimi, did you know that fairies are real?” I responded with, “Wow! I’ve never seen a fairy. What do you...Read More