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

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

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

By Regina Wright I may be confessing my age, but let’s let our imaginations wander. Think about the time in your life when you were a child. What made your free time fun time? When I imagine, I think about long summer days and how I spent endless hours jumping rope. I had so much...Read More

By Lisa Mulliken E-books are electronic books in digital form that can be read on a phone, tablet, computer or any other hand-held device. As e-books become more popular in classrooms and homes, there are many questions, and opinions, about using e-books instead of print books with children.Read More

Pam Schaffner Inclusion is a relatively new concept in the course of human history. Before the 19th century, those with disabilities were often considered cursed or even possessed and were largely removed from society. They were often institutionalized in hospitals or even jails. In recent decades how persons with disabilities are educated and treated in...Read More

Beth Simon  Why are real world conversations important to children? Children learn best when adults don’t talk to them about abstract concepts. Numbers and letters are part of the “abstract” world. Do we need numbers and letters? YES, absolutely! But children will learn about those things in due course. Children learn best when adults use...Read More

Does changing a diaper seem daunting with all those steps that are needed? You may have been overwhelmed seeing those steps listed. The procedural steps that the Program Quality Assessment team follows was a collaboration between the authors of the Environment Rating Scales, The American Academy of Pediatric resource “Caring for Our Children” and our...Read More

By Stefanie Camoni Welcome to the classroom, a place where the children spend most of their time. They play here and may even eat and sleep in this same space. The classroom plays a vital role in a child’s day and should evolve and change as the children’s’ development and needs change. The space may...Read More

Erin DelRegno Evans “Childhood is not a race to see how quickly a child can read, write, and count. It is a small window of time to learn and develop at the pace that is right for each individual child. Earlier is not better.”           − Magda Gerber There’s a reason people...Read More