CACFP
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) plays a vital role in improving the quality of day care and making it more affordable for many families with low incomes. CACFP serves nutritious meals and snacks to eligible participants enrolled for care at participating day care centers and day care homes. The program promotes the development of basic nutritional concepts and provides nutritious, well-balanced meals — fostering sound eating habits that enable participants to become caretakers of their own nutritional habits. CACFP also provides meals to children residing in homeless shelters and snacks to youths participating in after-school care programs.
In addition, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides annually adjusted cash reimbursement to organizations serving meals and snacks to participants receiving nonresidential day care in licensed or government approved adult day care facilities. Independent centers and sponsoring organizations enter into agreements with the CACFP office to assume administrative and financial responsibility for CACFP operations.
Caring for our Children
Caring for Our Children (CFOC) is a set of national standards that represent the best practices — based on evidence, expertise, and experience — for quality health and safety policies and practices in early care and education settings.
Environment Rating Scales Institute (ERSI)
The Environment Rating Scales (ERS) are research-based tools to assess global process quality in early childhood programs. The ERS are widely used throughout the United States and abroad to optimize the quality of early learning environments for young children. The Environment Rating Scales Institute (ERSI) is the only agency certified by the scale authors to provide in-person training on the ERS. ERSI team members have decades of experience in the field of early childhood education and specifically with the ERS. They provide a wide range of training options, including introductory sessions, reliability testing, and in-depth courses. ERSI has a highly personalized approach to helping clients use the scales reliably for assessment purposes and to guide continuous quality improvement efforts.
The ERS consists of:
- The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale - Third Edition (ECERS-3), to assess the quality of care for center-based programs serving children aged 3-5 years.
- The Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale - Third Edition (ITERS-3), to assess the quality of care for center-based programs serving children aged birth-2 years.
- The Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale - Third Edition (FCCERS-3), to assess the quality of care for home-based programs for children from birth-12 years.
- The School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale - Updated Edition (SACERS-U), to assess the quality of programs for school-age children (ages 5-12), during out-of-school time (e.g. before/after school care).
New Jersey Birth to Three Standards
The New Jersey Birth to Three Early Learning Standards provide a framework for understanding and supporting the development of infants and toddlers (from birth to age three) across key developmental domains. These standards are designed to guide caregivers, educators, and service providers in creating responsive, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate experiences for young children.
The standards are organized into four core developmental domains:
- Social and Emotional Development — Focuses on a child’s ability to form relationships, express emotions, and develop a sense of self.
- Language Development and Communication — Addresses how children understand and use language to communicate.
- Cognitive Development — Involves how children think, explore, and figure things out
- Physical and Motor Development — Covers physical health, growth and motor skills (both gross and fine).
These standards:
- Provide a shared language and expectations for early childhood professionals and families.
- Support curriculum development and program planning.
- Help identify developmental milestones and potential delays.
- Promote a whole-child approach that integrates health, safety, and learning.
NJ Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards
The New Jersey Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards provide a comprehensive framework for high-quality preschool education for children ages 3 to 5. These standards outline what preschoolers should know and be able to do across all areas of development and learning, helping educators create developmentally appropriate, inclusive, and engaging learning environments.
Key Features:
- Developmentally Appropriate: Tailored to the unique learning needs and abilities of preschool-aged children.
- Whole-Child Focus: Emphasizes not just academic skills, but also social-emotional, physical, and language development.
- Alignment: Designed to align with the NJ Birth to Three Standards and K–12 learning standards, ensuring a seamless educational progression.
Core Domains Include:
- Social and Emotional Development
- Approaches to Learning
- Language, Communication and Literacy
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Studies, Family and Life Skills
- Creative Arts
- Health, Safety and Physical Education
- Technology
Purpose:
- Guide curriculum development and classroom instruction.
- Inform assessment and support individualized learning.
- Ensure equity and inclusion across diverse early childhood settings.
Core Knowledge and Competencies for Early Childhood Professionals
The Core Knowledge and Competencies (CKCs) for Early Childhood Professionals define the essential knowledge, skills, and dispositions that individuals working with young children (typically from birth to age 8) should possess to provide high-quality care and education. These competencies serve as a foundation for professional development, training, evaluation, and career advancement in early childhood education (ECE).