DOCUMENT RESUME ED 433 929 PS 027 903 AUTHOR Kirshenbaum, Karen TITLE Helping Family Day Care Providers Implement Developmentally Appropriate Child Care Practices in Their Homes with a Four Point Strategy. PUB DATE 1999-00-00 NOTE 79p.; Ed.D. Practicum, Nova Southeastern University. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses - Practicum Papers (043) -- Tests /Questionnaires (160) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Caregiver Child Relationship; *Child Caregivers; Curriculum Development; Early Childhood Education; Educational Environment; Educational Facilities Improvement; *Educational Improvement; *Family Day Care; Improvement Programs; Program Effectiveness; Program Evaluation; Scheduling IDENTIFIERS *Day Care Quality; *Developmentally Appropriate Programs ABSTRACT This practicum was developed to increase the quality of child care offered by family daycare providers on a military base in the western United States. Providers were to improve their developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) by following a daily activity schedule, setting up enriched home environments, writing and implementing curricula, and positively interacting with children. Following identification of the problem through a survey of daycare providers, interventions were conducted, including three training sessions, playgroups, and education of providers in lending library supplies. Monthly home visits were also conducted. Outcomes of the interventions were measured using the Developmentally Appropriate Practices Observation Tool, which contained four sections: daily activity schedule, environments, interactions, and curriculum plans. Findings indicate that, with the exception of setting up developmentally appropriate home environments, all objectives for improvement through use of DAP were met. (Appendices contain the survey instrument, observation tool, workshop evaluation, family daycare book report form, and family daycare provider home visit observation form. Contains 50 references.) (EV) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Helping Family Day Care Providers Implement Developmentally Appropriate Child Care Practices in their Homes with a Four Point Strategy U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as eceived from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. o Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. By Karen Kirshenbaum Cluster 89 A Practicum I Report Presented to the Ed.D. Program in Child and Youth Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Nova Southeastern University 1999 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Kozce.4 _KvcSNewboAt.TA TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES BESTC PYAVAI ; ;LE INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 2 Table of Contents Page Acknowledgments iv Abstract Chapter I: Introduction 1 Description of Community 1 Writer's Work Setting 1 Writer's Role 2 Chapter II: Study of the Problem 3 Problem Statement 3 Problem Description 3 Problem Documentation 4 Causative Analysis 5 Relationship of the Problem to the Literature 8 Chapter III: Anticipated Outcomes and Evaluation Instruments 18 Goals and Expectations 18 Expected Outcomes 18 Measurement of Outcomes 19 Chapter IV: Solution Strategy 20 Discussion and Evaluation of Solutions 20 Description of Selected Solutions 29 Report of Action Taken 32 Chapter V: Results 38 Results 38 Discussion 42 Recommendations 44 Dissemination 46 References 48 Appendices A Developmentally Appropriate Practices Survey 54 B Developmentally Appropriate Practices Observation Tool 60 C Workshop Evaluation 68 D Family Daycare Book Report Form 70 E Family Daycare Provider Home Visit Observation 72 ii 3 Tables Environments 39 1 Interactions 2 40 Curriculum Planning 3 41 iii 4 ,, Acknowledgments I want to thank my flight chief and family daycare coordinator for their support in helping me see this practicum through to completion. As for the 12 family daycare providers whom I had the pleasure to work with, I want to thank them for allowing me the opportunity to assist them in improving the quality of care provided to our military families. From start to finish, my husband Jason and daughters, Emily and Melissa were there for me. With the deepest of gratitude and love, I dedicate this practicum to my family who continues to encourage me to pursue my dreams and do good things for children and families. iv Abstract Helping Family Day Care Providers Implement Developmentally Appropriate Child Care Practices in their Homes with a Four Point Strategy. Kirshenbaum, Karen L., 1999: Practicum Report, Nova Southeastern University, Ed. D. Program in Child and Youth Studies. Child Care, Developmentally Appropriate Practice, Early Childhood, Family Child Care. This practicum was developed to increase the quality of childcare provided by family daycare providers. Providers were to improve their developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) by following a daily activity schedule, setting up enriched home environments, writing and implementing curriculums and positively interacting with children. The writer presented three training sessions, offered playgroups, and educated providers on the use of lending library supplies. Monthly home visits were also conducted. Analysis of the data revealed that with the use of training sessions, lending library education, playgroups, and home visits, family daycare providers were better prepared to implement DAP. Networking was also enhanced by these more frequent contacts. Permission Statement As a student in the Ed.D. Program in Child and Youth Studies, I do give permission to Nova Southeastern University to distribute copies of this practicum report on request from interested individuals. It is my understanding that Nova Southeastern University will not charge for dissemination except to cover the costs of microfiching, handling, and mailing of the materials. (date (signature) 1 Chapter I: Introduction Description of Community The setting for this family daycare program was a military base located in the western United States. The terrain was both mountainous and prairie with a mean elevation of 6,035 feet. The climate was generally sunny with annual average humidity at 49%. The city's demographics included 515,872 people with 71% of this population younger than 44 years. The ethnicity was 78.9% White, 7.5% Black, 9.6% Hispanic and 3.3% Asian. Writer's Work Setting The mission of the military on-base family day care program was to provide affordable, quality childcare to military active duty personnel. This quality childcare service allowed military personnel to perform their military functions and ensured that military readiness was maintained to protect our country, without worrying about the well-being of their family members. There were many unique features at this military base. It was a headquarters command, with only 384 enlisted homes and 107 officer homes located on its military installation. All of the family day care providers were family members of enlisted military personnel and resided in enlisted housing. According to military guidance, it was recommended that up to 3% of enlisted on-base homes be certified, that equated to 12 enlisted homes on this base. The actual number of certified on-base homes as of 1 Jun 98 was 12. 7 2 In addition to the on-base family daycare homes, there were two child development centers and one youth center serving a total of 384 children, ages 6 weeks- 12 years. In spite of all these facilities and on-base family daycare homes, the waiting list for children under the age of 2 years was high. There were 67 children under the age of 2 years and 25 children over 2 years in need of childcare. All 12 family daycare providers were enlisted wives. Their mean age was 35 years. Their ethnicity breakdown was seven White, three Black, two Hispanic and zero Asian. The military population, in which these providers belong, was a microcosm of the city population in terms of age and ethnicity. These military enlisted and officer personnel looked first to the base for childcare support. Writer's Role As the training and curriculum specialist assigned to the family daycare program, the writer was responsible for providing training and curriculum support to the family daycare coordinator and to her on-base family daycare providers. Specifically, the writer provided family daycare oversight in the areas of setting up the physical home environments, following a daily activity schedule, implementing curriculum plans and initiating positive provider-child interactions. The writer ensured that homes were in compliance with the Department of Defense family daycare inspection criteria and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) guidelines. 8 3 Chapter II: Study of the Problem Problem Statement The problem to be solved in this practicum was that the military on base family daycare providers were not demonstrating developmentally appropriate practices. Although the family daycare providers were nurturing and providing a safe and healthy environment for young children, they were not providing activities in an enriched environment that encouraged children to explore and learn. They were not using the best practices to address each child's growth and development and ensure the highest level of quality care in their home settings. Problem Description Family daycare providers were having difficulty supporting DAP in the areas of following a daily activity schedule, setting up enriched home environments, writing and implementing age and individually appropriate curriculums, and demonstrating positive provider-child interactions. Providers were working with a mixed-age group and finding it hard to juggle infants' individual feeding and sleeping schedules with the needs for following a consistent daily activity schedule with active/quiet, and indoor/outdoor times for older children. Approximately 50% of providers were documenting planned activities on the curriculum form provided by the family daycare office for their use. Furthermore, activities planned were primarily provider directed with all children participating in the same activity regardless of their age or individual interests. Within the play setting, family daycare providers were exhibiting positive guidance, yet they were not practicing the positive adult-child interactions of facilitating children's play by asking open-ended 4 questions and encouraging children to problem solve. Emphasis in family daycare homes was primarily focused on ensuring safe and healthy practices were followed. In this regard, military family daycare providers were offering families safe and healthy home environments for their children's play. Examples of these practices included but were not limited to, diaper/toileting sanitation procedures followed guidelines set by the Center for Disease Control, medications that were up out of the reach of young children, safety latches, and fire extinguishers were common fixtures in their homes. Monthly fire drills were conducted in each home. Child abuse prevention and reporting procedures were in place. Homes were inspected on a monthly basis to ensure consistency in adhering to these safe and healthy practices, as well as to DAP. It is here, with DAP where our personnel needed to concentrate more attention. Our on-base family daycare providers wanted to move from providing good programs for children to being better in tune with children's growth and development and offering families the best quality developmental childcare programs for their children. Problem Documentation In May 1998, the writer distributed a DAP survey to the 12 family daycare providers. Nine of the 12 providers participated in this voluntary survey process. The survey asked participants to rate themselves as to the frequency of conducting specific actions under the categories of daily activity schedules, setting up home environments, curriculum planning, and provider-child interactions. Ratings were most of the time, sometimes, and rarely. The results of this survey indicated that: