About the Center

Our Mission

In 1981, the Child Development Center was founded to provide quality early childhood education for young children. Our program strives to be a model early childhood program for families, future teacher candidates, university students and the community. Our center is available for university students and individuals in the community to engage in clinical field experience, observation, lesson presentations, research and information sharing and staff development. Our program continuously fosters building strong partnerships with children, parents, families, students, faculty and the community. Our program celebrates diversity, traditions, cultures and individual differences.

Child Safety

Widener University Campus Safety provides additional security safeguards for the children, families and staff members at the center. Widener Campus Safety and Widener CDC staff members have access to cameras 24 hours a day. The center is locked at all times and permission to enter must be granted by the CDC staff members. The CDC has policies and procedures in place to protect the children and provide a safe and nurturing environment for young children.

Our Staff

The faculty members are reflective practitioners in that they reflect upon daily lessons presented to the children. The lessons are designed to meet the individual needs of the children. The faculty complete ongoing observations and assessments to crosswalk the curricula and standards. The faculty makes ongoing adjustments with curricula and lesson presentation to insure that the developmental needs of each child is being met. Parent Teacher Partnership is essential in planning, monitoring and assessing the developmental growth of our children.

Keystone Stars Program

The Child Development Center has a STAR 4 rating through the PA Keystone Stars and is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.

Keystone STARS is an initiative of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) to improve, support and recognize the continuous quality improvement efforts of early learning programs in Pennsylvania. The Keystone STARS Performance Standards provide the foundation for the program. The Performance Standards are grouped into four levels. The Widener Child Development Center is rated with four out of four stars, which is the highest level achieved!

By maintaining our STAR 4 quality rating, we give parents additional assurance that their children are in a developmentally appropriate and supportive environment. It also acknowledges the efforts of our teachers who strive to give even our youngest students a well-rounded education. Our approach to learning is to nurture a child’s intellectual, emotional, social and physical development, as well as their individual creative skills.

— Dr. Noreen Yoder, former director

Visit education.pa.gov to learn more about the Keystone Stars program.