The 2025 Child Care Business Trends Report from Procare Solutions shows that around one-third of survey respondents create their own curriculum. And a similar number still rely on paper-based curriculum, which becomes outdated quickly and often is difficult for teachers to understand.
Using a curriculum that has earned a state’s stamp of approval is a measure of quality that a child care center can be proud to offer to its families. ECE state-approved curriculum programs provide consistency, quality assurance, comprehensive development and teacher support, all contributing to a strong educational foundation.
Aligning with state-approved ECE curriculum is also essential for securing grant funding and providing high-quality education! And the role of assessments cannot be overlooked either.
Why Curriculum Matters in ECE
Research confirms what high-quality child care does for a child later in life, and a solid curriculum is directly linked to this success.
The U.S. National Institute of Health found that children up to 4 years old who attend a high-quality daycare achieve higher academic scores as teenagers.
Children who go to preschool are generally able to adjust to the rigors of kindergarten better than kids who stay home with their parents. This is because they’ve already been exposed to teacher expectations and school-like routines.
And early childhood education has also been proven to reduce the chance of special education placement and increase the likelihood of high school graduation.
The Importance of Assessments
Assessments are vital as well. This year’s survey results show that most child care centers continue to rely on natural observations with teachers collecting data and children’s work for portfolios.
Most states require the use of learning standards to track developmental milestones, so staff should be aware of the skills that children generally demonstrate when they reach a certain age.
Early intervention is likely to be more effective when it is provided earlier in life rather than later, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s because the connections in a baby’s brain are most adaptable in the first three years of life. These connections are the foundation for learning, behavior and health. And over time, these connections become harder to change.
One of the main reasons that assessments are vital in early childhood education is their role in tailoring instruction to individual needs. Every child is unique and progresses at his or her own pace. Assessments help educators identify a child’s strengths, areas of improvement and developmental milestones they’ve reached.
In the past, assessments often required stacks of paper for observing, documenting and storing student data. In fact, some ECE teachers spend hours manually recording developmental milestones and assessment data for each child. But online assessments, especially those that are built into an all-in-one child care management software program, make this easier when teachers can log milestones in a single platform. This eliminates tedious paperwork and ensures all information is organized, searchable and easy to access.
Let Procare Help with Assessments and Curriculum!
Vine Assessments is an integrated framework that gives early childhood educators a way to clearly articulate the growth and development of children in their care. Its assessments align with standards in all 50 states. Teachers using Procare can tie their lessons and observations directly to the appropriate Vine Assessments indicator from the web-based software and Procare child care mobile app.
Procare Early Learning powered by Learning Beyond Paper is an all-digital curriculum specifically designed to meet the unique needs of educating children from infancy through pre-kindergarten.
It embeds Learning Beyond Paper’s early childhood curriculum, which was designed by educators with decades of combined experience, into Procare, making it easier and less time-consuming for busy teachers and administrators to provide high-quality education.
With Procare Early Learning powered by Learning Beyond Paper, child care centers can:
- Equip teachers with state-of-the-art online curriculum at their fingertips
- Dramatically reduce the amount of time spent on lesson planning each week
- Offer children a high-quality, developmentally appropriate curriculum
- Save money with this cost-efficient solution that’s integrated with Procare
This curriculum can be used in ALL child care center classrooms, with 52 weeks of lesson plans and more than 4,000 daily activities for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and pre-kindergarteners. Learning areas include STEAM, language and literacy, physical development, cognitive, music and movement as well as interactive reading. Plus, teachers get tips and tools they can use in real time.
Procare is the only solution that can deliver the entire early childhood education ecosystem — lesson planning, lesson delivery within the classroom as well as assessment and parent engagement. Being able to do all of these with one platform simplifies classroom management and planning!
How much time and money could your child care center save using a digital curriculum designed for young learners? Enter your number of staff, number of students and type of program into our online calculator to see your potential time and money savings!
Procare Cost and Time Savings Calculator Automated Payment Processing Cost & Time Savings Calculator Digital Curriculum Cost and Time Savings Calculator
Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s all-in-one child care management software. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*: Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s secure and effortless child care payment processing. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*: Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s classroom management. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*:
* Our data model is based on our experience working with over 100,000 child care centers, before and after school programs and youth organizations since 1992.
Switching to will save you hours and a month!*
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We understand that smaller centers and in-home daycare providers are operating on a tight budget, and that is why we provide all these features for the affordable price of just $25 per month. Let us handle the business of child care so you can get back to caring for your children.
To learn more about Procare home version, click below.
*Please note that the report you see only factors in cost and time savings for the in-home solution features. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative. *Please note that the report you see only factors in cost and time savings for the in-home solution features. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative. *Please note that the classroom management functionality is not available for in-home users. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative.
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Procare Cost and Time Savings Calculator
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