Friday, April 2, 2004

Local child care center recognized

Kids ‘R’ Kids #39, at 10 Lexington Pass in Peachtree City, was recently named a Center of Distinction by Georgia’s Office of School Readiness. The Center of Distinction certificate is awarded to child care centers that meet a high level of quality childcare for children 0-4 years old.

“We congratulate the staff at Kids ‘R’ Kids #39 for earning the Center of Distinction certificate,” said Marsha Moore, Executive Director of OSR. “The certificate means that the center is providing exemplary care. Centers that earn this distinction are providing children with appropriate nurturing and preschool activities that stimulate healthy development and learning.”

Brain research conducted during the ‘90s validated the importance of appropriate care and education of young children and the need for early intervention; optimizing the window of opportunity during the first years of a child’s life. This research underscores the importance of early learning and practical “hands-on” activities that encourage brain development. With this in mind OSR created the voluntary Standards of Care program in 1998 to support quality care and education in child care centers that are serving Georgia’s youngest citizens. The culmination of participation in SoC is becoming a Center of Distinction.

Two of the most stringent evaluation instruments in the country are used to evaluate centers that apply to be part of the initiative. The nationally recognized rating scales are: the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R) assesses the quality of center-based care for children up to 30 months of age; and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) assesses the quality of center-based child care for children from 30 to 60 months of age.

“We are very proud of our teachers. This great opportunity to participate in the certification process has provided our teachers with much training, and each of them has worked very hard to achieve the requirements defined in the ITERS-R and ECERS-R rating system,” said Debbie and Steve Webb, owners of Kids ‘R’ Kids North Peachtree City.

“We want to recognize the tremendous contribution to the process made by Hope Via, our education director; Amy Sasser, who was our education director when we began this journey 18 months ago and is now director of our pre-K program; and Rick Caldwell, who is our OSR technical assistant. Rick provided much encouragement and guidance along the way,” said Ms. Webb. “Out of all of the licensed childcare centers in the state, only 60 have this distinction and none of these centers are located in Fayette or Coweta counties. Congratulations to our staff and thank you for a job well done.”

The Office of School Readiness is the agency that administers Georgia’s Prekindergarten Program, licenses child care centers that are part of Georgia Pre-K, administers the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program, and implements the Standards of Care Program. For more information about the Standards of Care Program or OSR’s other programs, call 1-888-4GA-PreK or visit www.osr.state.ga.us.

OSR’s collaboration with partners such as the Smart Start Georgia, through which participation in SoC has been made available to child care centers licensed by DHR in targeted counties.