Our Philosophy
The CDC strives for high quality childcare and developmental programming for the University community, and committed to exceed minimum state child care standards (by meeting lower staff ratios, higher staff qualifications, and in service training requirements). Low staff turnover means greater consistency in adult-child relationships which is a vital factor affecting quality care.
The child “educating” philosophy at the CDC supports a whole-child concept of development based on the premise one cannot educate without offering care and protection and one cannot provide care and protection without also educating young children in a group setting.
We strive to meet the Early Learning Guidelines set forth by the Louisiana Department of Education. These guidelines are a framework of high-quality practices for all caregivers of children birth through five. The guidelines are indicators of what children at certain ages should be “working on.” They contain ideas for caregivers about arranging the environment and suggest interactions and communications that best support this development.
How children approach learning depends on their individual temperament traits and their learned behaviors and attitudes. They may approach new situations easily or need to withdraw and assess the situation. They may have a great deal of persistence or tend to give up easily. They may be easily distracted or have keen concentration. Children may learn through their parents or through early care and education experiences that learning is fun or a chore. The experiences we provide for children in our care will help to shape their behaviors and attitudes.
The Louisiana Standards for Programs Serving Four-Year-Old Children document is a framework for building a quality, developmentally appropriate pre-kindergarten program. These standards are designed to be used by teachers, administrators, directors, curriculum developers, parents, policymakers, and any others involved with programs that serve all four-year-old children.
These standards are intended to be a guide for teaching young children. They are not intended to be a curriculum or a checklist. All the individual areas of the standards are considered to be equally important and should be integrated into all the activities of the day. Also, the standards are not intended to limit any child’s progress. The individual needs of each child must be met on a daily basis.
Educational research has consistently proven that there is a strong correlation between the quality of early childhood experience and later academic success. Therefore, it is imperative that Louisiana’s pre-kindergarten programs provide children with the foundational experiences needed for them to become successful learners.