Helping Families Search for Quality Child Care

Families have a lot to consider when looking for the proper child care and early education program for their family. Cost, location, and availability are important factors—but quality is the most crucial factor.

Maryland EXCELS helps families choose quality child care and early education programs that meet their needs. By searching for a Maryland EXCELS quality-rated program, families are choosing from programs that emphasize achieving high standards and implementing practices that support children’s development and learning.

Families can easily search for programs in the Find a Program Directory on the Maryland EXCELS website. Search categories include location, quality rating, and other achievements. Qualifications for each quality rating are also viewable.

As participants of Maryland EXCELS, child care centers, school-age child care programs, family child care homes, and public prekindergarten programs earn ratings on a progressive scale from 1 to 5. A quality rating of 1 indicates a program has met initial quality requirements. A rating of 5 signifies a program has demonstrated the highest quality rating.

With each level of quality, the program is meeting more stringent requirements in areas such as curriculum, teacher training and qualifications, degrees, and other staff development activities that make teachers better teachers, and family child care providers more adept at their jobs.

Families can naturally have anxiety about leaving their children under another person’s care and guidance. Therefore, it’s essential to seek a provider with the proper skills, qualifications, personality and environment to suit their children’s needs.

Interviewing programs is an excellent starting point. MSDE’s Division of Early Childhood provides guidance on how to start these conversations, and offers other valuable information to help families find the best fit. Families can also explore our Interviewing and Visiting Potential Programs Checklist, a comprehensive guide designed to help them make informed decisions about their child’s care and education.

Does your family need help with child care costs? You may be eligible for the Child Care Scholarship Program, which provides financial assistance to working families in Maryland. The Maryland Family Network’s LOCATE: Child Care Service enables families to find child care either via telephone or online.

Improving the Lives of Children Who Are At Risk

Research shows that children who experience safe, nurturing, and trusting relationships with the adults in their lives have a greater chance of success–emotionally, economically, and intellectually. These adults include caregivers and education providers for children who spend significant time in child care homes or centers.

In a recent presentation, Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child addressed the positive impact early child care and education providers can have on children who are at risk. For those children who experience increased stress, quality early childhood programs can make long-term differences. Additionally, according to The Impact of Early Adversity on Children’s Development, an article on the Harvard University Center website, having dependable and nurturing relationships with adults can “reverse the damaging effects of early life stress, with lifelong benefits for learning behavior and health.”

The Maryland State Department of Education supports this research by requiring child care programs that accept the Child Care Scholarship to participate in Maryland EXCELS. This requirement ensures that children have access to child care programs committed to continuous quality improvement. 

Opening Doors to Inclusion

How do you recognize the various cultures and experiences of the children in your program?

Inclusion in child care and early education is an essential  topic. As you work to ensure inclusivity in your program, consider the  practical suggestions from Quality Assurance Specialist Petrea Hicks. Hicks has dedicated a significant amount of her career in early childhood to inclusivity and the importance of all children being represented equally in their programs and classrooms.

Hicks suggests providers help children see themselves positively by ensuring the books and materials in the learning environment are diverse and help to avoid or combat stereotypes. According to Hicks, fostering an environment reflective of a child’s culture and background will help that child make social-emotional gains from an early age.

Below are three additional  tips from Hicks on being more racially and culturally inclusive in your early childhood program.

  1. With the help of associated training, be educated and knowledgeable to ensure your program is being inclusive.
  2. Focus on a child’s strengths. Your expectations for a child fuel them, so be sure to focus on their strengths to build confidence.
  3. Recognize all children at all times. Always celebrate diversity, not just during months honoring history. For example, in addition to recognizing Black History month in February, ensure there are books and materials in your program regarding African American culture available throughout the year. Programs should seek books and materials highlighting  influential people in the community and stories about unique experiences specific to various audiences. Stories should also include diverse characters so children can see themselves in the books they read.

Eco-Friendly Program Achievement

Maryland EXCELS recognizes several eco-friendly organizations that offer achievement certificates. Each opportunity has a distinct set of steps that involve you as a provider as well as education and awareness for the families and children you serve. Each program also varies in cost, length of award time, and amount of activities. Hopefully, you can find one that best fits your needs!

Eco-Healthy Child Care®  

Eco-Healthy Child Care, a national initiative created by the Children’s Environmental Health Network, provides programs with an easy-to-understand checklist to help reduce health hazards found in a child care environment. The checklist also includes detailed instructions on how to follow through with each item on the list. This option ranges from $25 to $50, depending on the size of your program. Applicable to all child care program types.

Maryland Green Schools Program

Created and supported by the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE), the Maryland Green Schools Program trains, encourages and supports providers in their environmental sustainability. The organization also teaches providers how to encourage children to reduce their environmental impact.

Nature Explore Classroom Certification

The Nature Explore Classroom Certification, designed by a division of the Dimensions Educational Research Foundation, supports programs to create nature-based spaces for learning and play. This program, which is designed for providers with an outdoor space, emphasizes strong staff development and family involvement to expand environmental awareness within the community.

Eco-Schools USA Program  

The National Wildlife Federation’s Eco-Schools USA program is designed to involve children in the natural world through learning while expanding their environmental skills and understanding. This program emphasizes greening of existing facilities and incorporation of environmental learning and practices within the curriculum. Resources and support are strong, with an easy-to-use online handbook.

After you earn a certificate or endorsement through one of these available courses, upload your documentation into your Maryland EXCELS account. Contact your Program Coordinator or email info@marylandexcels.org for more information.

By pursuing an Eco-Friendly Program Achievement, not only does your program benefit, but you help teach young children about keeping our planet healthy and being responsible stewards of the environment.

For more information about the Maryland EXCELS Eco-Friendly Program Achievement, visit our Additional Achievements webpage.

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15 Nap Time Albums You’ll Enjoy

After a busy day of reading stories, completing activities and playing outside, it is time to put the children down for a nap. Naptime is the perfect time of day to take a breather. Whether you decide to use this time for cleaning, lesson planning, or to work on Maryland EXCELS, below is a list of some great albums to play in the background. The familiar tunes and soft melodies will help you to de-stress while lulling your little ones into relaxation.

  1. Lullaby Renditions, by Rockabye Baby! (Search for the Rockabye Baby! site for music by artists like U2, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, Maroon 5, Bob Marley, etc.)
  2. Arms of An Angel, by Instrumental Pop
  3. The Disney Songbook, by Jim Brickman
  4. Beatles: Guitar Instrumentals, by Peter Pupping and Fred Benedetti
  5. Good Day Sunshine: Acoustic Guitar Classics, by Peter Pupping and Fred Benedetti
  6. In the Lounge with Stevie Wonder, by Instrumental Inc
  7. Pop Hits for Ballet Class, Vol. 2, by Nate Fifield
  8. 100 Popular Hits – Instrumental Spanish Guitar, by Various Artists
  9. Great Country Hits Instrumental, by The London Fox Players
  10. Elton John: A Piano Tribute, by Boko Suzuki
  11. Instrumental Versions of Current Popular Songs: Just Give Me A Reason, by: The O’Neill Brothers Group
  12. The Very Best of Enya, by Enya
  13. Piano Tribute to Bruno Mars, by Piano Tribute Players
  14. Acoustic Tribute to One Direction, by Guitar Tribute Players
  15. Putumayo Kids Presents Instrumental Dreamland, by Various Artists

These albums can be found on your favorite streaming service.