The CDC has a three-part mission: service to families, professional preparation, and research. Its theoretical base is social constructivism. The curriculum focuses on individual and group learning. Children have many experiences with materials and other forms of expression (e.g. paint, clay, drawing, drama, music and movement).
Our school community values individual identity, knowing each other, listening and sharing, inquiry and reflection, and collaboration. We think of our school as a system of interactions and relationships that are continuously constructed as we work together. We believe that collaboration both sustains the reflective and analytic work of the group, generates new possibilities for growth in the organization, and creates a community of learners.
In this way of working, the protagonists are the children, their teachers and their families, and the pre-service and in-service teachers who study with us. Our approach is based on the following premises:
- Children are full of potential, have many ideas and theories, and an eagerness to learn.
- Knowledge is constructed rather than acquired through an active process of exploring, investigating, and playing.
- The environment promotes interaction and co-operation.
- Joyful learning is promoted daily.
- Listening is a central role of the adult. Listening is reflected in the on-going documentation and study of children's ideas and investigations.
- Respect is accorded to all members of the community through encouraging and understanding multiple points of view.
- In family-centered education, parents are viewed as partners with teachers.
- Communication is a reciprocal process involving the home and the school.
Mission Statement
The mission of the KSU Child Development Center is to enable all children and families to experience exemplary early education.
The mission priorities are to:
- Offer an education based on relationships to children of university families (students, staff and faculty). Children with defined disabilities are admitted first.
- Include parents as full partners in their children's education
- Support the development of teachers who are reflective, passionate about their work, grounded in theory and the content of the curriculum, researchers of their own practice, and above all, able to develop meaningful relationships with children and families.
- Engage in on-going inquiry into our own practices.
- Communicate our work to our professional and general communities.
- Advocate for high quality services for children and families.
Criteria for admission are designed to insure a diverse group of children.