Screening in Early Childhood Programs

Developmental screening is implemented in early care and education settings by teachers and/ or other trained child development professionals. In addition to its main purpose of identifying possible developmental delays and making recommendations for further assessment, screening helps teachers plan and adapt curriculum to meet each child’s developmental and learning needs.  Each program may have a different policy that addresses screening.

Bronze Circle of Quality: Program administrators must complete the ExceleRate-approved training on screening tools.

Silver Circle of Quality: Programs must have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all children (birth-5 years) are screened at least annually for the purpose of identifying special needs and parents are provided screening results and information on where they can go for additional evaluation and services.

Gold Circle of Quality: Programs must also have policies and procedures in place to ensure all children (birth-5 years) are screened annually. In addition they must ensure that children are screened no later than 60 days after entry into program. Parents must also be provided information on screening results. In addition, children for whom the screening identifies a developmental concern, are referred for further evaluation by Child & Family Connections (birth -3) or local education entities for (3-5).