Day Care Administrator

Hours: 340 / Access Length: 12 months / Delivery: Online, Self-Paced
Retail Price: $2,895.00

Course Overview:

In this course, we will become familiar with the development and management of a child daycare center, including such elements as child development theories, legal considerations, bookkeeping, staffing, site management, and parental involvement.

The goal of a quality day care facility is to provide child care that meets the needs of each child and family in a safe, educational environment.At a quality center, the workers and management strive to meet the individual needs of each child, while providing quality, reliable and safe child care.

About This Course:

We are committed to offering world class interactive online courses that provide training and learning support for the student in a number of ways during their experience. This course structure has been developed to provide activities to guide students throughout the entire process of learning. Learning activities include hands-on assignments that allow students to use what they are learning to allow better transferable skills within their work environments.

When a student learns, they are not alone.   Each student will be supported by our student services department – which ranges from course mentors, registrar, and technical support assistance.   Every month students have a progress report run on them every month by our student services department to ensure they are making satisfactory progress.   If a student falls behind, we reach out to them personally by phone call every month to see if there is anything we can do to continue to assist them with moving forward in their course.

This course prepares students for the Council for Professional Recognition Child Development Associate (CDA) certification exam.

Course Outline:

Lesson 1: Managing Children's Centers in the 21st Century

In this lesson we will discuss the challenges and trends in the modern Childcare Center industry.  We will define standard terms, explore core competencies required, identify stages of professional development required for center directors, and discuss population trends that influence early care and education.

Lesson 2: Types of Child Development Programs

In this lesson, we will explore 5 types of child care programs, comparing and contrasting them.  In addition, we will discuss financing methods for child development programs and the advantages and disadvantages of each.  Finally, we will become familiar with a systems approach to providing child care services.

Lesson 3: Applying Theories in Managing a Child Development Center

In this lesson we will become familiar with and discuss a variety of methods for managing a child development center.  We will discuss the importance of theory and describe 4 types of child development theories as well as how they are applied by child care managers.  In addition, we will discuss 5 management processes and the ecological systems framework.

Lesson 4: Reflective Management

In this lesson, we will examine the importance of self-reflection in effective management, management and leadership styles, emotional intelligence, types of decisions, and prioritization.

Lesson 5: Organizational Management

In this Lesson we will discuss organizational management and stakeholders, including a working knowledge of the many regulatory systems governing program operation, an understanding of the reasons for the regulations, and the ability to manage the program within those constraints.

Lesson 6: Fiscal Management

In this lesson, we will discuss resources needed to start and maintain a child development program, sources of funding, costs, and budgeting.  In addition, we will discuss the relationship among parents, staff, salaries, and quality of care.  Finally, we will identify strategies for managing finances of a child development center.

Lesson 7: Personnel Management

In this lesson we will discuss the steps involved in the job design process.  We will discuss the role of authority, organizational structure, and span of control in coordinating the jobs in a child development center.  In addition, we will overview the steps involved in staffing a child development center.

Lesson 8: Human Relations

In this lesson, we will discuss the motivation of staff, as well as the importance of understanding their needs and desires.  We will become familiar with techniques that foster effective communication with and among staff members.  In addition, we will discuss the importance of professional development along with the elements of a performance appraisal system.

Lesson 9: Facilities Management

In this lesson, we will discuss the considerations and day to day practicalities of managing facilities, including upkeep, location needs, building codes, and custodial issues.

Lesson 10: Managing Health and Safety Issues

In this lesson, we will discuss health and safety codes, worker-child ratios, the safety of equipment and facilities, background checks and legal considerations for workers, infection control, and other issues related to health and safety in the child care environment.

Lesson 11: Managing Food Service

In this lesson, we will discuss food service options for a child care center, child nutrition, food storage, budgeting and cost, guidelines for families, and food allergy considerations.

Lesson 12: Educational Programming

In this lesson, we will discuss the major approaches to learning and education in early childhood, including philosophies of child learning, common learning programs, and standards and objectives related to learning in the child care environment.

Lesson 13: Family Engagement

In this chapter, we will discuss the role of families in the child care environment.  Topics discussed will include family and parental involvement, volunteerism, legal considerations, and family/staff interaction.

Lesson 14: Marketing and Public Relations

In this lesson, we will discuss various methods of marketing the child care, including offline marketing, social media, online marketing, word of mouth, and promotion.

Lesson 15: Assessment and Evaluation

In this lesson, we will discuss the importance of excellence along with various means of assessment and evaluation, including surveys, objective assessments, standards-based assessments, and data-driven changes to a program.

All necessary materials are included.

Certification(s):

This course prepares students for the Council for Professional Recognition Child Development Associate (CDA) certification exam.

System Requirements:

Internet Connectivity Requirements:

• Cable, Fiber, DSL, or LEO Satellite (i.e. Starlink) internet with speeds of at least 10mb/sec download and 5mb/sec upload are recommended for the best experience.

NOTE: While cellular hotspots may allow access to our courses, users may experience connectivity issues by trying to access our learning management system.  This is due to the potential high download and upload latency of cellular connections.   Therefore, it is not recommended that students use a cellular hotspot as their primary way of accessing their courses.

Hardware Requirements:

• CPU: 1 GHz or higher
• RAM: 4 GB or higher
• Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher.  1920x1080 resolution is recommended for the best experience.
• Speakers / Headphones
• Microphone for Webinar or Live Online sessions.

Operating System Requirements:

• Windows 7 or higher.
• Mac OSX 10 or higher.
• Latest Chrome OS
• Latest Linux Distributions
  

NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online based courses.

Web Browser Requirements:

• Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
• Latest Mozilla FireFox
• Latest Microsoft Edge
• Latest Apple Safari

Basic Software Requirements (These are recommendations of software to use):

• Office suite software (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice)
• PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, FoxIt)
• Courses may require other software that is described in the above course outline.