Reply to Remotely Vetting Preschools?

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Reply to "Remotely Vetting Preschools?"

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[quote=Anonymous]OP I do hear you that it's not ideal to not be able to visit in person. There are a couple of online sources of info you should check out (I'll put the Maryland links for Montgomery County in, Virginia/Fairfax probably has similar resources but I don't know where they are):

- Preschools have to comply with child care licensing regs, so you should check their licensing inspection history. Most schools do have some violations (usually paperwork related) but sometimes you'll see something more serious, plus I do think it's generally a good sign when they don't have a TON of violations even if they aren't serious. For MoCo (actually Maryland more generally): https://www.checkccmd.org/
- Some preschools may have some kind of accreditation that can give you a sense of how robust their program is (NAEYC/Montessori/MSDE). In addition, many states including Maryland have quality rating and improvement systems that are optional for schools to participate in but also offer an additional source of info. In Maryland it is called EXCELS. The link above for the licensing lists the EXCELS rating and accreditation though not sure how often these are updated. You can also look up EXCELS ratings here: https://marylandexcels.org/directory/
- Maryland Family Network has a child care search tool that I believe includes information on accreditation and EXCELS ratings, it's probably the same info as the licensing site but the nice thing is you can search for programs on a map and they have price information for some schools: https://locate.marylandfamilynetwork.org/Family/login

When you talk to any school make sure to ask about staff turnover and listen carefully. A good school should be able to brag about how long their teachers have been there. You can also ask for parent references and when you talk to the parents listen to how enthusiastic they sound.[/quote]

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