Glossary
Childcare Center Director Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential childcare center director terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key childcare center director vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in childcare center director training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Accreditation
- Quality recognition such as NAEYC.
- CACFP
- A federal child and adult food program.
- Classroom observation
- Evaluating teaching quality.
- Curriculum
- The learning plan.
- Enrollment
- Children registered in a program.
- Family handbook
- Policies for families.
- Incident report
- A record of injuries or events.
- Licensing
- State rules for childcare.
- Professional development
- Training for staff.
- QRIS
- Quality rating and improvement system.
- Ratio
- Children per teacher.
- Staff retention
- Keeping employees.
- Subsidy
- Government childcare assistance.
- Tuition
- Fees paid by families.
- Waitlist
- Families waiting for openings.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Childcare Center Director practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Childcare Center Director training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.