Information for Parents

To help you making this decision we provide a quality checklist, which was designed following the guidelines of leading experts on early childhood education at UNC-Chapel Hill. Please use the contained questions to check the quality of the daycare centers you visit.

• Quality checklist early childhood (German)
• Quality checklist kindergarten (German)

Use the checklist to find out how the following elements are implemented in the center you visit:

• Curriculum
• Communication with parents
• Caregivers
• Procedures for health and security
• Room design

Use our checklist and ask as many questions as possible, when you visit a daycare center. Please take your time and spend at least on hour in the center. You should pay close attention on the interactions between caregivers and children. It is essential that employees freely answer your questions. Should they be short-spoken or irritated, it is safe to assume, that you won't get the information you need as a parent in the future. Only if you have collected enough information, you can make the best possible decision for your child.

Always remind yourself, that the best childcare centers are those with a curriculum targeted at a fostering a healthy self-consciousness and preparing for school.

Regardless of your decision, you and your child's caregivers should build a trusting relationship with the goal to support your child's learning. A close relationship from the start helps to give the child the best possible preparation for its future.