Child Development Management

Course Description

Child Development Management addresses director responsibilities in implementing and administering an early childhood programme — staff selection and supervision, and financial management of the programme. Daytona State notes that it fulfils educational requirements for Florida's foundational-level Child Care and Education Administrator Credential and can contribute toward the advanced level.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, CHD is the Child Development prefix. Daytona State publishes this at 3 credits, offered fall, spring, and summer, giving approximately 45 contact hours.

Running a child care programme is a small business with an unusually difficult economic structure and unusually high stakes. The director is simultaneously an instructional leader, a regulatory compliance officer, a human resources manager, and a business operator — and the constraints on all four are set by an industry economics that this course should describe honestly.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe the director's role and its multiple dimensions.
• Describe programme types, ownership structures, and funding models in early care and education.
• Describe Florida's child care licensing requirements and the director's compliance responsibilities.
• Describe staff-to-child ratios, group size, and supervision requirements.
• Describe background screening and personnel record requirements.
• Recruit, screen, interview, and select staff lawfully and effectively.
• Describe orientation, training requirements, and professional development planning.
• Supervise, coach, and evaluate staff performance.
• Apply employment law requirements, including wage and hour rules and non-discrimination.
• Describe strategies for staff retention and the causes of turnover.
• Develop and manage a programme budget.
• Describe revenue sources, including tuition, subsidy, food programme, and grants.
• Set tuition and analyze enrollment, capacity, and cash flow.
• Manage payroll, purchasing, and financial records.
• Describe risk management, insurance, and liability exposure.
• Develop and maintain health, safety, and emergency policies and plans.
• Develop a staff handbook and a family handbook.
• Communicate with families and manage concerns and conflicts.
• Describe marketing, enrollment, and community relations.
• Describe programme evaluation, quality improvement, and accreditation.
• Apply professional ethics to administrative decisions.
• Describe mandatory reporting obligations and the director's role in them.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe strategic planning and board governance in non-profit programmes.
• Describe grant writing and fundraising.
• Describe facility design, licensing of physical space, and maintenance.
• Describe technology and management software for child care.
• Describe advocacy and public policy in early care and education.
• Develop a business plan for a programme.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• The director's role and responsibilities
• Programme types, ownership, and funding
• Florida licensing and compliance
• Ratios, group size, and supervision
• Background screening and personnel records
• Recruitment, interviewing, and selection
• Orientation, training, and professional development
• Supervision, coaching, and evaluation
• Employment law
• Retention and turnover
• Budgeting
• Revenue sources and subsidy
• Tuition setting, enrollment, and cash flow
• Payroll, purchasing, and records
• Risk management and insurance
• Health, safety, and emergency planning
• Staff and family handbooks
• Family communication and conflict
• Marketing, enrollment, and community relations
• Programme evaluation and accreditation
• Administrative ethics
• Mandatory reporting

Optional Topics

• Strategic planning and governance
• Grants and fundraising
• Facilities and physical plant
• Management software
• Advocacy and policy
• Business planning

Resources & Tools

• Developing and Administering a Child Care and Education Program (Sciarra et al.) — the standard text for this course.
• From Survive to Thrive (Debbie LeeKeenan & Iris Chin Ponte, NAEYC) — on the leadership dimension specifically.
• Florida DCF Child Care (myflfamilies.com) — free and essential: licensing standards, the Child Care Facility Handbook, required training, background screening, and inspection reports.
• Chapter 402, Florida Statutes — free on Online Sunshine; the statutory basis for child care licensing.
• Florida's Office of Early Learning / Early Learning Coalitions — free: School Readiness subsidy, VPK contracting, and provider requirements. The local coalition is a director's most important operational contact.
• NAEYC — free Code of Ethical Conduct and Supplement for Early Childhood Program Administrators; accreditation standards are the quality benchmark.
• McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership — free research and leadership assessment tools.
• USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) — free; a genuine revenue source most small programmes underuse.
• Florida SBDC — free small business counselling, funded by the state and federal government; directly applicable to the financial content.
• US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division — free FLSA guidance; see the employment flag below.

Career Pathways

• Child care centre director — the direct destination; Florida requires the Director Credential to serve in the role.
• Assistant director and programme coordinator — the usual step before director.
• Owner-operator — many Florida programmes are small businesses, and this course is where feasibility gets assessed honestly.
• Head Start centre director and management staff.
• Multi-site or regional manager — chains and franchise operations.
• Early Learning Coalition staff — provider support, monitoring, and quality improvement roles.
• Licensing specialist — DCF and local licensing agencies employ inspectors.
• Quality improvement coach — supporting programmes toward accreditation and quality ratings.
• Family child care provider — running a licensed home programme is a business with the same requirements at smaller scale.
• SOC code 11-9031 Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare.

Special Information

⚠ The economics are genuinely hard — understand them before you open anything

The honest content this course owes anyone considering directing or owning a programme, because the constraint is structural rather than managerial.

Child care has a broken market structure, and it is important to understand why rather than to assume bad management explains what you see:

• Quality is expensive because it is labour. Low ratios are the primary quality driver and the primary cost driver simultaneously — there is no efficiency to be found without harming the service.
• Families cannot pay what quality costs, particularly for infants, where ratios are strictest. Tuition that covers true cost exceeds what most families can afford.
• The gap is absorbed by wages. Early childhood teacher compensation is persistently low relative to the qualifications required — this is the sector's defining problem and it is the reason for its turnover.
• Turnover is high and it is costly — recruiting and training replacements, losing continuity for children, and losing the relationships families trust. Continuity of caregiver is itself a quality factor, which means turnover degrades the product directly.
• Margins are thin and enrollment-sensitive. A few empty spaces can move a programme from viable to not, and infant rooms frequently lose money while preschool rooms subsidize them.
• Subsidy matters. Florida's School Readiness programme and VPK are significant revenue streams, and reimbursement rates, contracting, and payment timing materially affect cash flow. The local Early Learning Coalition administers both.
• CACFP is real money that small programmes routinely fail to claim.

The managerial consequence: a director's most consequential decisions are about staffing and enrollment, and the levers are fewer than a general business course implies. Rule 11 applies — subsidy rates, VPK funding, and licensing requirements change with legislation each year.

⚠ Compliance is the floor, and the director owns it personally

The regulatory dimension, which is the part of the job that can close a programme.

• Florida licenses child care facilities under Chapter 402, F.S., with DCF administering — or, in some counties, a designated local licensing agency. Know which applies to you, since requirements can differ.
• Ratios and supervision are non-negotiable and are the most common citation. "Direct supervision" has a defined meaning, and being briefly out of ratio is a violation regardless of circumstances.
• Background screening is Level 2 and applies to staff, volunteers, and household members in family child care. Screening must be current before a person has contact with children.
• Required training has defined hours and topics — the introductory 45-hour training, annual in-service, and specific certifications. Tracking it is an administrative burden and a compliance obligation.
• Inspection reports are public. Florida publishes them, and families read them.
• Mandatory reporting is personal and non-delegable. Under § 39.201, F.S., any person who suspects child abuse or neglect must report to the Florida Abuse Hotline. A director cannot report on a teacher's behalf to discharge the teacher's duty, and a director who discourages a report is exposed both legally and professionally.
• Corporal punishment is prohibited in licensed Florida child care, as are humiliation, withholding food, and confinement as discipline — regardless of a family's instructions.
• Document everything — incidents, conversations, corrective actions, and training. The record is what defends the programme.

⚠ Staffing is the job — and employment law is where directors get hurt

• Hire for disposition, train for skill. Warmth, patience, and reliability are difficult to teach; curriculum knowledge is not. Structured, job-related interview questions and reference checks predict better than impressions.
• Interview lawfully. Questions about age, family status, pregnancy, religion, disability, or national origin create discrimination exposure. Ask about the ability to perform the job's functions.
• Classify employees correctly. Misclassifying staff as independent contractors, or treating a non-exempt employee as salaried and exempt, produces wage claims. Most child care staff are non-exempt and owed overtime above forty hours.
• Off-the-clock work is a violation — requiring staff to arrive early to set up or stay late to clean without pay is a common and expensive error in this sector.
• Florida's minimum wage rises on a scheduled path under a constitutional amendment; budget for it in advance.
• Supervise supportively. Coaching, observation with feedback, and reflective supervision retain staff; punitive management accelerates turnover in a sector that cannot afford it.
• Document performance contemporaneously. Terminating without a record is both unfair and legally risky.
• Non-wage retention levers exist — schedule predictability, paid planning time, professional development, and being treated as a professional all matter, and some are affordable when wages are not.

Rule 11 applies — wage and hour rules, Florida's minimum wage schedule, and employment verification requirements change. Verify with the Department of Labor and counsel.

⚠ Florida's child care credentialing ladder — know where this course sits

Florida regulates child care staffing through a defined credential structure administered under Chapter 402, Florida Statutes and the Department of Children and Families, and early childhood coursework maps onto it directly.

• The Florida Child Care Professional Credential (FCCPC) and the national CDA are the entry-level credentials for classroom staff.
• The Director Credential has tiers — commonly a foundational level and an advanced level — and is required to serve as a licensed child care facility director in Florida.
• College coursework counts toward these credentials, which is why DSC's catalog states explicitly which courses satisfy which requirement. That mapping is the practical value of these courses beyond the degree.
• DCF-required training and background screening are separate tracks from college credit — the 45-hour introductory training, the annual in-service requirement, and Level 2 screening are compliance obligations that coursework does not replace.
• Ask your programme, in writing, which credential requirement each course satisfies, and keep the transcript — credential applications require documentation.

Rule 11 applies — Florida's credential structure, required training hours, and licensing rules are amended. Verify with DCF and the credentialing body rather than relying on this or any other guide.

⚠ Only about three Florida institutions carry this number — hedge accordingly

This course appears at roughly three institutions statewide. Content, credit value, and emphasis vary more than they would for a widely taught course. Read your own institution's catalog description and syllabus rather than assuming this guide describes your section exactly, and have any transfer evaluated in writing.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement.

CHD2801 is a lecture course, 3 credits and approximately 45 contact hours, offered every term. Expect applied administrative deliverables — a budget, a staff or family handbook section, a policy document, and a compliance review — which are directly usable and which support a credential portfolio.

Early childhood A.S. degrees are applied and do not carry the A.A.'s junior-status guarantee. The more consequential point is credentialing: this course carries defined credit toward Florida's Director Credential, so keep the transcript and syllabus, and confirm with the credentialing body which requirement it satisfied.