What is a Child Development Site Supervisor?

Miss Nelly, the head teacher and director of Tiny Toes, is a California Child Development Site Supervisor Permit? A site supervisor is one of the highest levels of Child Development Permits issued by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. A Site Supervisor is credentialed and permitted to supervise a child care and development program operating at a single site, and provide service in the care, development and instruction of children, and has a minimum of 350 days of childcare within 4 years, including at least 100 days of supervising adults. Compare this to the lowest level of credential available, the Child Development Assistant, who is credentialed to care for and assist in the development of children but only under the supervision of a higher-credentialed teacher, and has no minimum requirement for previous childcare experience.

Child Development Site Supervisors must satisfy a more rigorous set of requirements, including coursework in the fields Child Development (CD) and Early Childhood Education (ECE). Site Supervisors must have an Associates Degree (or higher) with at least 24 CD/ECE units, 6 administrative units, and 2 units of adult supervision, as compared with 6 total units of CD/ECE for the Child Development Assistant permit.

What does this mean for your child? Having a site supervisor  at Tiny Toes means our curriculum is based on solid and current Early Childhood Education/Child Development theories and practice. Few family child cares obtain this level of certification, and instead of a true preschool curriculum they simply offer preschool-age activities rather than a directed effort to support the full development of a child. Site supervisors must take college level courses about Early Childhood Education theories and practices, understand the various stages of child development, and have a longstanding history of child care and administration. At Tiny Toes, this means an enriched, whole child curriculum and smoother day-to-day routines to provide a consistent standard of care.