Evaluating a Daycare
Use our child care program evaluation template to understand key indicators of quality.
Evaluating a daycare or childcare facility is a crucial step in finding the best child care option for your family’s needs. When visiting a child care program, consider factors such as safety, cleanliness, the qualifications of the caregivers, the curriculum, and the overall environment.
Essential Quality Indicators
Child Care Council provides helpful resources that outline essential quality indicators and evaluation criteria to assist parents and caregivers in making informed decisions about the types of child care they’d like to receive.
The following questions can be a valuable reference to have during your visits to potential child care providers. Remember that while accreditation is a significant indicator of quality, it’s just one aspect to consider when evaluating a child care home or facility.
Child Care Program Evaluation Template
Caregiver-Child Interactions
- Are children comforted when needed?
- Do providers and children enjoy being together?
- Are children warmly greeted when they arrive?
- Do providers talk to children and seem genuinely interested in what the children are doing?
- Do providers get down on children’s level and speak to them?
- How do providers help children solve their own problems?
- How do providers react to children’s behavior?
- How do providers encourage peer interactions?
Program Structure
- Is there a daily balance of play time, story time, activity time, and nap time?
- Do children play for a significant part of their day?
- Do providers play with children to help facilitate their learning?
- Are there enough toys and learning materials for the number of children?
Parent Partnership Questions
- Do caregivers share and talk to parents about their child’s daily activities, either at drop-off or pick-up?
- Does the program incorporate technology as a communication tool? If so, is information shared with parents on how to access it and how the information is kept secure?
- Are parents encouraged to visit at any time?
- Are there ways for parents to be involved in the program? How are parent ideas incorporated into the program?
- How do providers work with parents to incorporate the family’s culture and values into the classroom?
Types of Child Care Settings
Whether licensed, registered, or legally exempt, there are several types of legal and regulated child care programs available in New York State, and all are regulated by the state Office of Children and Family Services. Below is a brief description of some of the most common options.
- Child Care Centers provide care for more than six children at a time, not in a personal residence.
- Small Child Care Centers provide care for up to six children, not in a personal residence.
- Family Child Care Homes provide care for three to six children at a time in a residence.
- Group Family Child Care Homes provide care for seven to twelve children at a time in a residence; a provider must use an assistant when more than six children are present.
- Informal/Legally Exempt Care is home-based care for one to two children at a time in addition to the provider’s children.
Further information is available at the Office of Children & Family Services’ website.