About Us

Our Mission

The mission of the Carroll Area Child Care Center and Preschool (CACCCP) is to provide the highest quality childcare and educational services available, including the provision of food, rest, play, citizenship, habit training and general supervision to children in the Carroll area.  

Our Goals

1. To help children mature by surrounding them with supportive, caring, and well-trained adults that can provide appropriate experiences based on developmental levels while providing for the safety of all children.  Our staff is driven by a love of children and a love of learning.  They are well trained and have access to developmentally appropriate materials, activities, and information for all stages and levels of development. 
    
2. To help children learn by providing a wide variety of activities and materials.  Children need a wide range of choices and experiences in order to grow in the many areas of development.  They need opportunities to be successful as well as opportunities to fail.  We believe that children learn best when they are grouped according to age and developmental level.  We break our classrooms down into six-month intervals through age three to ensure smaller class sizes.  This arrangement allows us to provide more age-appropriate activities for all children. 
    
3.  To provide positive guidance for all children to allow them to develop a sense of responsibility and foster good decision-making skills.  We set realistic and consistent limits for our children.  We use positive reinforcement and praise whenever possible to encourage our children.  When consequences are necessary, then natural and logical consequences are used to help children develop a sense of accountability for their actions. 

History and Additional Information

The Carroll Area Child Care Center opened its’ doors to families with newborn to 10-year-old children in the Carroll Community in 1975.  The original location of the center was in the Maple River School building.  As the center grew in size, the location was moved to a building on 7th Street in Carroll. The center also rented additional space at the Tan Creti Building and an apartment for Infants.  As time passed, the center continued to grow, so in 1996 the center purchased and renovated the Fareway Building, our current location, on West 7th Street.  The Department of Human Services licenses the current center for 168 children. In 2004, we changed our name to Carroll Area Child Care Center and Preschool to reflect the addition of our Preschool Program for three year old children. The center’s goal in adding this program was to offer this not only to children enrolled in the center but to open our doors to other three year old children in the community. Our preschool program has completed the process of meeting the Quality Preschool Program Standards. This achievement allows us to be eligible to provide tuition assistance to families who would otherwise not be able to send their child to preschool.  In the spring of 2007, our administration and board of directors decided to expand our program once again, by renting a 1200 sq. foot space from the Knights of Columbus to house our Preschool and our After-School programs. This expansion allowed the center to enroll fifteen more School Age children and an additional sixteen infants.

Carroll Area Child Care Center and Preschool currently serves 200 children as young as two-weeks old until the children turn ten.  CACCCP has eight classrooms in the main building and one classroom located at our second site in the Knights of Columbus Hall. The children are placed in classrooms based on developmental and chronological age. Our center participates in the voluntary Department of Human Services Quality Rating System (QRS) for childcare centers and homes.  The QRS program was designed to raise the quality of childcare in Iowa, to increase the number of children in high-quality child care settings, and educate parents about quality in childcare.  The rating system is used to score each center based on the following categories: Professional Development, Health and Safety, Environment, Family and Community Partnerships, and Leadership and Administration.  QRS allows our center to show our dedication to quality childcare services. In January of 2010 CACCCP began participating in the Iowa Quality Rating System. Initially the center was rated a level 3 out of a 5 star system. In 2016 the center was rated a level 4. 

Our Preschool is open to all three year olds in the community. The State of Iowa has also developed a voluntary program to assist Preschools in assuring that all programs offer quality preschool experiences.  The Quality Preschool Program Standards (QPPS) consists of 10 standards and within those standards are 152 criteria that need to be met. The QPPS incorporates classroom standards, teaching and curriculum standards, as well as works with the teachers to assure that all children are receiving a quality start in education prior to Kindergarten. The center has been involved with the Quality Preschool Program Standards since 2006 and is currently one of only two private preschools in Carroll County that participate in the program. In 2012 the Preschool Program completed the process of meeting the Quality Preschool Program Standards. This achievement allows us to be eligible to provide tuition assistance to families who would otherwise not be able to send their child to preschool. 

During the school year we provide before and after school care for 45 school-aged children at our second site. When school is not in session we run a summer program for these children. Our goal for our summer program is to provide a relaxed environment while still providing the children the opportunity to explore what the Carroll Community has to offer.