Child Care Physical Environment Checklist
Created to provide a unique tool to help Early Care and Education providers assess their facilities and create a quality improvement plan.
Introduction
This checklist was created to help centerbased early childhood programs assess the quality of their physical environment. It relies on standards developed by experts in the early care and education field and on experience gained by LISC staff and consultants in their work with programs across the country. A basic assumption of the Checklist is that your program space already meets applicable state building codes, health department regulations and state licensing requirements for child care facilities.
Reviewing a child care space with this tool can help you identify aspects of the physical facility that interfere with your efforts to provide high quality care, including a good working environment for your staff and a family-friendly space for parents. It may help with setting priorities for renovation or reconfiguration of your space. It may also help raise your expectations for the facility and motivate you to work toward a higher standard of quality.
This tool is for your program’s internal use, and is intended to help you reach your goals for quality space. Look at each response and its list of features carefully, and resist the impulse to inflate or exaggerate your ratings. The Checklist will be most useful if it is an objective and honest appraisal of your space.