• School districts
• Community-based organizations
• Early care and education programs
• Parents
• Community collaboratives
• Policy-makers
• Funders

• To improve child outcomes
• To increase program quality
• To increase skills and best practices of early childhood education teachers and administrators in observation skills, data collection, and data use
• To increase data informed decision making in early childhood programs

• Enriched learning experiences for children
• Increased staff and parent awareness of the components of high quality early childhood education
• Sustainability as a result RECAP training and technical assistance
• Low-stakes evaluation
• Teacher-informed measure and processes that are easy-to-use and understand
• Reliable and valid feedback on issues ranging from curriculum and instruction to equipment and capital improvement needs
• Tracked progress that follows children into elementary school

• Teachers and administrators are trained in three core assessment tools: two that focus on the child and one that focuses on the classroom environment
• Teachers observe children and document their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development
• Teachers summarize their observations on computer scan forms
• Classroom teachers receive summaries on the children in their class
• Master Observers – highly-trained local early childhood experts – observe and rate the classroom environment and report back to the teachers
• Parents complete surveys regarding classroom and family practices and satisfaction
• End of year summary reports allow classrooms and programs to benchmark anonymously with other RECAP programs
• Other assessment tools may be added to meet additional needs

Using various observations and survey tools, RECAP gathers the following data:

• Parent satisfaction and interests in:
  • Child development
  • Programs
  • Agencies
  • Support services
• Classroom observations of:
  • Adult and child interaction
  • Environment
• Child-specific information on:
  • Motor development
  • Speech and language development
  • School skills
  • Socio-emotional adjustment

Data and information obtained through the annual RECAP process is shared with school, government, health, and foundation policymakers to assist in crucial early childhood education decisions.

• Year of reports from the Rochester, NY community indicate that programs participating in RECAP have enriched learning experiences for children and improved early childhood environments and school performance
• Through RECAP, local policymakers have access to important information and use it to lobby for increased support and funding
• Children’s Institute is known nationally for its work in early childhood education partnerships

• Action for a Better Community’s early education division
• Chemung County School Readiness Project
• Dolgeville School District
• Early Childhood Education Quality Council (ECEQC) centers
• Family Resource Centers of Crestwood Children’s Center
• Florence S. Brown pre-k classrooms
• Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES
• Rochester Preschool-Parent Program
• Rochester City School District programs
•  Other Universal Prekindergarten centers