Questions to ask:

Is there an abundance of age-appropriate children's literature?

Do teachers receive program training, support and ongoing training? What type?

Do teachers use educational resources (i.e., curriculum guides, lesson planning tools, child-development resources)? Ask for examples.

Is there a mix of teacher-initiated group activities and child-chosen individual activities? Ideally, you should notice approximately 4-5 large group times, 15-30 minutes in length, and two sessions of choice time with over 10 activities for children to choose from, allowing the teachers opportunities to provide individual attention.

Is the program based on age-appropriate learning objectives? (Including Language & Communication, Cognitive Development, Creativity & Arts, Physical Development and Personal & Social Development).

Do the children have daily motorplay with access to age appropriate equipment?

Does each child have her own record of growth and progress? Ask for examples.

Are critical pre-writing and pre-reading skills practiced every day?

Is there a Communications Center for each age group that lists daily schedule, menu, and important announcements?

Things to look for:

Are teachers interacting with the children in a way that maximizes learning? Teachers should be asking open-ended questions and helping the children get excited about what they are learning.

Are there suggested involvement activities for parents? How do you learn about these activities?

Is the program based on age-appropriate development objectives? (Including Basic Motor Skills, Senses Development, Self-help Skills, Listening-responding and Game Play).

Is an activity and lesson plan posted and is the teacher following it?

Are there daily and/or weekly progress reports sent to parents? Ask for examples.

Is team building encouraged through group projects?

Is the program based on age-appropriate learning objectives? (Including Language & Communication, Cognitive Development, Creativity & Arts, Physical Development and Personal & Social Development).

Are the Director and teachers open to questions?

Do the children work creatively on open-ended art projects and Learning Center activities to nurture their social skills and creativity?

Is there a schedule to ensure your child is with the same teacher for the majority of the day, every day?

Is reading encouraged through a literature circle and shared reading time?

Is there administration to provide information?

Is there an orientation plan for a child's first 30 days in the program?

Are you introduced to teachers on the tour?

Are children happily engaged in activities?

Do the children and teachers engage in shared reading activities, which allow them to explore theme and age appropriate children's literature? Ask to see the literature.

Does the program emphasize school readiness skills, such as phonemic awareness, vocabulary building, pre-writing and math?

Is there a robust lesson plan and/or curriculum materials for learning?