Child Care Services Association

ensuring affordable, accessible, high quality child care
for all young children and their families

Home | Programs to Improve Child Care Quality | Technical Assistance for Child Care Businesses

Technical Assistance for Child Care Businesses: Improving Quality

The quality of care a young child receives has been shown to dramatically impact his or her social, emotional, physical and intellectual development, and ultimately success in school and life. While research studies show that top predictors of quality child care are educated providers, low staff turnover, low child/staff ratios and above minimum licensure or accreditation of the child care program, many programs in Durham, Orange and Wake counties do not meet these criteria. Other programs meet some of the criteria, but struggle to meet the rest.

Child care providers, and those who think they may want to open a child care program, may call or visit any of our offices for information about state regulations, improving quality or CCSA services. CCSA offers a wide variety of services to current and potential child care programs interested in providing high quality child care. Some of these services are:

On-site Assessments and Technical Assistance
Child Care Services Association offers on-site assessments and technical assistance. These projects, funded by Smart Start, strive to improve the quality of child care provided to young children in Durham and Orange counties and their families. Services, which are customized for each child care program, may include:

identification of areas of strength and areas needing improvement following an on-site assessment with a trained facilitator
assistance in redesigning classroom environments
the development of Individualized Professional Development Plans for child care staff
referrals to other supportive services such as Community Mentors, resource teachers, the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Project and/or the Child Care WAGE$® Project
help in becoming nationally accredited through NAEYC or NAFCC
technical assistance and support for teachers of four-year-old children in developing effective school readiness classrooms.

On-site and Telephone Consultations with Child Care Programs
Child care providers, and those who think they may want to open a child care program, may call or visit either of our offices for information about state regulations, improving quality or CCSA services. Information and materials will be offered upon request through one-on-one technical assistance consultations, the use of our resource libraries, mailings such as the agency's provider newsletter, and professional development opportunities such as our annual conference, start-up sessions, pre-licensing workshops, directors' workshops, and new staff orientation sessions.

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Corps,
a National AmeriCorps Service Program

The T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Corps, a national AmeriCorps service program, is administered through Child Care Services Association to aid centers that support teachers on T.E.A.C.H.® scholarships in the goal of raising or maintaining their center's quality. Through this program, T.E.A.C.H.® Corps volunteers are recruited, trained and placed in child care centers in Durham, Orange, and Wake counties to serve full-time for one full academic year, September through June. The goals of the program include the following:

To provide school-related release time for teachers engaged in higher education in the early childhood field
To enhance ratios in busy classrooms and offer one-on-one attention to children who may need it
To enrich center life with projects focused on literacy, nutrition or other areas of importance to the program
To increase volunteerism and/or parent participation, as needed, in the centers served
To educate Corps members in early childhood education, thereby increasing the number of educated workers and/or informed advocates for the field of early childhood education
To improve upon or maintain high quality in early childhood programs in the long term

To be eligible to host a T.E.A.C.H.® Early Childhood Corps member, a child care center must be a nonprofit, 3-, 4- or 5-star program that has teachers on T.E.A.C.H.® scholarships and will have teachers enrolled in courses throughout the academic year in which the center participates. In exchange for receiving a fully trained and committed volunteer for an entire academic year, centers contribute only modest match fees, generally amounting to fewer than $6 per hour, for their Corps member's time.

Centers may inquire about the program at any time by contacting an AmeriCorps program administrator at 919-403-6950 or e-mailing americorps@childcareservices.org. Applications for centers are usually taken in May and June of each year. Corps members are selected through an extensive interview process and screened for their interest or experience in the field of early childhood education; their dedication to making a 10-month, full-time volunteer commitment to a local child care center; and their ability to work with a diverse group of children, families and professionals.

We are proud to have contributed both to advanced teacher education and sustained quality in area child care centers in our 14 years of service in North Carolina.

Professional Development Opportunities

Local child care programs may also access our statewide programs such as the T.E.A.C.H.® Early Childhood Project and the Child Care WAGE$® Project.

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