The Source of Child Care Center Preschool Learning and Program Standards: Implications for Potential Early Learning Challenge Fund Grantees

The proposed federal Early Learning Challenge Fund (ELCF) aims to improve the quality of early care and education programs by promoting the integration of more stringent program and early learning standards than are typically found in child care centers. ELCF grantees also must outline their plans for professional development and technical assistance to support these efforts. With the aim of informing potential ELCF grantees, this article reports the results of a statewide survey of 391 child care center directors focusing on the source of their preschool learning expectations and program standards. The majority of surveyed directors report that the state’s child care licensing standards are used. Additional directors report that the state’s prekindergarten program standards or early learning standards serve as their current source. However, other responses indicate that the terms “program standards” and “learning standards” themselves may not even be part of the current child care vocabulary. These results suggest that potential ELCF grantees might be better positioned to help child care centers incorporate stricter program and learning standards if they design varying levels of training and technical assistance based on the variety of child care quality “starting points.”