General Services

Reflections on Practice Service employing the Caregiver Interaction Scale (C.I.S) can assist your program if your centre is preparing for a site visit from Accreditation.

With 60% of the Accreditation rating weighted on Child/Staff interactions, ARCQE has a service that supports agencies gather an “evidence-based” report to add to portfolios by way of a pre “Site Visit” service which will help family childcare agencies & child care centres/programs demonstrate.

Benefits of this service will include:

• Consistency of practice between caregivers/providers working together in one agency,
• Consistency of practice across all rooms/day homes within an agency,
• Consistency of practice to written policy subject to program philosophy.

The report generated by ARCQE also provides programs/agencies with a number of follow up recommendations and services that can assist in identifying long term strategies that will address provisions on how programs/agencies will monitor and maintain high quality child/staff interactions.

Cultural Diversity Review Service supports programs in garnering evidence relating to Cultural Sensitivity in the areas of policy, staffing, routines, communication with parents, programming & environment, communication, cooking/science, mathematics, blocks, music & movement, art and library.

Benefits of this service will include:

• A report that encompasses observations on each room and/or day home as it relates to evidence supporting cultural sensitivity.
• Offers a review of current policies and forms to identify and recommend strategies related to integrating diversity meaningfully in practice.
• Provides a method of evidencing best practices related to in all of relevant accreditation standards for programs working towards accreditation.
• Extends recommended strategies enabling agencies/centres to address noted areas for facility improvement and/or to assist programs in identifying goals that will support the agency.

Child  Care, Family Child Care, Out of School Care, Preschool & Parent Link Centers can all benefit from this service and may also be interested in ARCQE’s Diversity Resource Kit & Weaving Cultural Sensitivity Workshop.

Assessing Quality Settings Support Service supports programs in garnering evidence relating to Facility and Practices as it relates to furnishings, room arrangement and displays for children reflecting indoor and outdoor play spaces that are provided for children in Early Learning and Care Service programs/agencies.  As a means of providing an objective assessment to the early learning and care environment for children, ARCQE employs a number of measurement tools that offer concrete, reliable and valid feedback to programs/agencies.

Observations collected using research based tools will record information on each room and/or day home which will then be consolidated into one report for the agency/centre, along with an outline of recommended strategies.

Benefits of this service will include:

• A report that encompasses observations on each room and/or day home as it relates to Facility and Practices
• A report that reflects the relationship of caregivers/provider practices specific to the facility, environments for young children and standards of accreditation that can then be utilized to inform the agency/centre portfolio
• Recommended strategies that allow agencies/centres to address noted areas for facility improvement and/or that assist in identifying goals that will support the agency

Exploring Daily Planned Experiences Report Service supports programs in garnering evidence relating to Daily Planned Experiences that take place in Early Learning and Care Service programs.  As a means of providing an objective assessment to this component of programming, The Exploring Daily Planned Experiences report includes evidence taken from:

• Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS)
• Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS),
• Family Day Care Environment Rating Scale (FDCERS)
• School Age Care Environment Rating Scale (SACERS)
• Preschool Outdoor Measurement Scale (P.O.E.M.S.)

Observations using these tools will record information on each room. This will then be consolidated into one report for the centre, along with an outline of recommended strategies.

Benefits of this service will include:

• A report that encompasses observations on each room as it relates to Daily Planned Experiences
• A report that reflects the relationship of caregiver practice specific to Daily Planned Experiences and standards of accreditation that can be added to reinforce the centre portfolio. Recommended strategies that allow centres to address areas for program improvement and/or that assist in identifying goals that will support the centre

Measuring Leadership & Administration Practices Report Service supports programs in garnering evidence relating to Administrative Practices that take place in Early Learning and Care service programs.  As a means of providing an objective assessment on program administration practices, ARCQE employs a number of measurement tools that offer concrete reliable and valid feedback to agencies.

The Measuring Leadership and Administrative Practice report may include objective observation cited from the previously mentioned Environment Rating Scale tools in combination with the following:

• Program Administration Scale (PAS)
• Alberta Child Care Licensing Act

 Once interviews and document reviews are completed, information is then consolidated into a report for the centre, which includes a summary of the program with recommended strategies that can be used as evidence and goals setting

The Quality Program Assessment Service helps afterschool programs improve their program quality and reach their desired outcomes for children and youth. This service is based on the National Institute on Out of School Time (NIOST) Afterschool Program Assessment Tool (APT). It is a tool created and used strictly for Out of School Care programs making the information tailored to identifying how the staff, children and environment work together to create quality out of school care programs.

ARCQE’s GOAL: is to use the QPA to help programs identify areas of program strength and areas for improvement

Benefits of this service will include:

• Research-based
• Direct observation of program/staff practice
• Focuses on social processes within program
• Is applicable in a range of settings
• Helps you define and communicate desirable program practices to staff and others.
• Helps you reflect on the quality of your program
• Indicates where your program is strong and encourages building on those strengths. THIS IS KEY!