Abstract:

This evaluation report describes the first four years of an innovative approach that combines assessment, on-site consultation, and the provision of resources and personal support to directors and lead educators (head teachers) in preschool rooms in licensed child care centres. The project was designed to achieve two goals: (1) To improve overall program quality in child care centres, with a focus on promoting change in the preschool classrooms, and (2) to enhance child care centres' inclusion capacity and inclusion quality. Evaluation procedures were used to determine both immediate and longer-term impacts of this model on the first four cohorts (98 child care centres) in Nova Scotia that volunteered to participate in the program.