Running a daycare center requires a lot of planning, organization, and hard work. As a daycare provider, you must set goals to improve the quality of care and encourage success.
The SMART system allows you to develop realistic and achievable goals for your daycare. In this post, we’ll cover examples of SMART goals to enhance different aspects of your daycare center.
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Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based) goals is critical to boosting the quality of care and growing your daycare center.
Here is deep dive into each SMART component:
It’s crucial to be as specific as possible when creating goals for your daycare. Vague goals can be challenging, while specificity provides clarity and direction.
For example, you could set a precise goal to improve children’s social skills: “80% of children will be able to use problem-solving skills to resolve conflicts independently.”
Measurable goals are vital since they allow you to monitor progress effectively. It must include criteria that can be quantified. A measurable goal could be, “Within this semester, 90% of children will be able to identify and write all letters of the alphabet.”
Ensure you consider the children’s current abilities and strengths when goal setting. Unrealistic goals may result in frustration for both the child and the teacher. This will enable you to have a set of objectives that fall within the child’s existing skill set.
Focusing on goals aligning with your daycare center’s mission and vision can boost motivation and determination. Ask yourself, “What do I value most, and what brings me joy?”
By understanding your values, you can pursue fulfilling goals that resonate with your daycare. To illustrate, if your mission is to provide multicultural education, a relevant goal could be to incorporate at least one foreign language lesson weekly.
Establish a deadline for each goal to gauge progress and make necessary adjustments. You’ll be able to prioritize tasks and manage time better. For example, you can set a goal to “increase daily physical activity time for children by 10 minutes by the end of the week.”
Here are 13 examples of SMART goals for your daycare center:
“To improve the quality of our daycare center’s services, we’ll conduct regular surveys on parent satisfaction with care and make adjustments based on feedback. We hope to see increased quality of care for children in the next 6 months.”
Specific: The SMART goal aims to improve daycare services by conducting parent satisfaction surveys.
Measurable: The daycare center can measure success based on increased satisfaction rates from parents.
Attainable: Conducting surveys is possible, and making adjustments based on feedback is a reasonable response to enhance the quality of care.
Relevant: Improving the quality of care is significant to daycare center success and meeting the needs of parents and children.
Time-based: You have a 6-month end date to reach this particular goal.
“We’ll set up bi-monthly workshops on child development and childcare practices within the four months ahead. Doing so should enhance the capabilities of our staff in providing excellent quality care to children at the daycare.”
Specific: The goal explains the purpose of staff training and specifically outlines bi-monthly workshops to promote employee education.
Measurable: The center can track success through staff feedback and improved quality of care due to the training.
Attainable: Offering workshops to staff members is achievable and will boost overall knowledge of childcare practices.
Relevant: Enhancing staff capabilities is pertinent to achieving higher quality childcare.
Time-based: This statement will take four whole months to achieve.
“In order to attract more families, we will run targeted Facebook ads and promote referral programs on social media channels. We aim to see a 10% increase in enrollment within four months of implementing these efforts.”
Specific: The aim is precise on enrollment growth and specific advertising outreach to boost enrollment.
Measurable: Enrollment can be measured before and after implementing these efforts and comparing the two.
Attainable: Running targeted ads is highly achievable and can result in increased enrollment for the daycare center.
Relevant: Increasing enrollment is essential for the growth and success of the daycare.
Time-based: This SMART goal will take four months for lasting success.
“We’ll finish digitizing all paper forms and records and store them in a centralized, cloud-based location to streamline operations within 6 months. This effort will enable the daycare center to access data remotely, reduce clutter, and increase efficiency.”
Specific: The goal is evident in outlining streamlining operations, specifically digitalizing paper forms.
Measurable: This can be assessed by comparing paper-based and digital-based efficiency and accessing data remotely.
Attainable: Digitizing paper records is feasible and is an excellent way to enhance efficiency and accuracy in record keeping.
Relevant: Streamlining operations is a crucial aspect of daycare center management and will lead to improved overall functioning.
Time-based: Six months are required for goal completion.
“To enhance the aesthetic appeal of our daycare center, we’ll complete a remodel of our facilities within the next year. We’ll aim to create an aesthetically pleasing environment that stimulates child development for all children and staff.”
Specific: This statement describes a complete remodel for aesthetic enhancement.
Measurable: Progress of renovations and client feedback will help gauge the efforts to upgrade facilities.
Attainable: A complete remodel of facilities may require significant time, money, and resources, but it is achievable.
Relevant: Upgrading facilities is essential for the growth and appeal of the daycare center to clients.
Time-based: You should anticipate goal attainment after one year.
“We strive to see a 20% decrease in the staff turnover rate by the end of the year. To accomplish this, we will conduct a bi-annual employee satisfaction survey and implement necessary changes based on feedback.”
Specific: The goal details the action needed to decrease staff turnover rates through bi-annual surveys.
Measurable: You could analyze the staff turnover rate before and after the feedback implementation.
Attainable: Conducting surveys and implementing changes according to employee feedback is feasible.
Relevant: Decreasing the staff turnover rate is important for the growth of the daycare.
Time-based: There is a one-year deadline to reach this certain goal.
“I plan to improve parents’ engagement with their children in the daycare over the next 5 months. I’ll organize events such as storytelling and parent-child activities, where parents can engage in age-appropriate activities with their children.”
Specific: The individual plans to increase parent engagement through storytelling and parent-child activities.
Measurable: You will organize events for parents to engage in age-appropriate activities with their children.
Attainable: This is achievable because you have identified specific activities to improve parent engagement.
Relevant: The goal is appropriate because it will help foster relationships between parents and children in the daycare.
Time-based: This is time-bound because it has an end date of 5 months.
“I’ll research and identify ways to reduce time and energy costs within the daycare center by the end of 7 months. This can be done through improved efficiency, smarter purchasing decisions, and taking advantage of available grants.”
Specific: The goal states the overall objective and how it will be accomplished.
Measurable: You can measure the amount of money saved through cost-cutting techniques.
Attainable: This is feasible because it will involve finding existing solutions or creating new ones.
Relevant: Improvements in operating costs can help improve the bottom line of the daycare center.
Time-based: A time frame of 7 months is provided for this goal.
“To create an eco-friendly environment for our daycare, I’ll review the current practices and policies in place within 8 months. This involves reducing waste, implementing energy-efficient lighting, and promoting a healthy lifestyle among staff and children.”
Specific: You’ll strive to create an eco-friendly environment for the daycare.
Measurable: Make sure you reduce waste and implement energy-efficient lighting.
Attainable: This is doable since the person has 8 months to review and create new policies for the daycare center.
Relevant: The goal is relevant to the organization’s mission of promoting a healthy lifestyle for staff and children.
Time-based: Eight months are required to achieve success for this goal.
“We’ll build stronger relationships with community members and develop an understanding of their needs so that our daycare center can better serve them. For 10 months, we will attend local events, talk to community members, and engage with other relevant groups.”
Specific: The SMART goal is explicit as it describes building stronger relationships with the local community.
Measurable: You’ll know if you’ve met the goal by engaging with community members and attending events.
Attainable: Realize that expanding relationships with the local community is feasible.
Relevant: The goal relates to building stronger ties with local community members so your daycare can better serve them.
Time-based: Success should be completed in the following 10 months.
“I will review, revise, and communicate all safety protocols to daycare staff by the end of three months. I want to ensure that all our team members understand the procedures so we can keep our children and staff safe in our facilities.”
Specific: This goal concerns reviewing, revising, and communicating safety protocols to daycare staff.
Measurable: Evaluate the number of safety protocols revised, reviewed, and communicated within three months.
Attainable: This is possible by developing a timeline and delegating tasks accordingly.
Relevant: The goal is suitable because it seeks to protect the safety of staff and children in the facility.
Time-based: You have three months to accomplish this SMART statement.
“We want to invest in developing new, innovative programs that differentiate us from other daycare centers in our area. We hope to have at least three new programs ready for launch within one year.”
Specific: This is detailed since the daycare has a strategy in place to develop three new programs.
Measurable: You can keep track of the number of programs that have been developed.
Attainable: The daycare has given itself enough time to research and develop these programs.
Relevant: These innovative programs will help this daycare stand out from the competition.
Time-based: Goal completion is anticipated after one whole year.
“I will make sure to have nutritious and delicious meals available for our daycare center children within 6 months. This should involve increasing the variety of food choices to accommodate different dietary needs and preferences.”
Specific: You must provide nutritious and delicious meals for your daycare kids.
Measurable: You’ll track the number of different food items available regularly.
Attainable: This is a reasonable goal if you are prepared to expand the menu over time.
Relevant: Offering various food options is essential to providing a quality daycare experience.
Time-based: You should expect this goal to be reached over 6 months.
Establishing SMART goals is an excellent way to keep your daycare center on track to success. The examples above are just a starting point; you can devise goals that align with your daycare needs.
By pursuing SMART goals, you’ll enhance the quality of care you provide and increase parent satisfaction. We hope these SMART goal examples inspire you to take your daycare center to the next level.
Rei is the founder of Success in Depth. He is passionate about self-improvement and brings years of experience in goal setting to empower readers to reach their aspirations. He has been featured on sites like Yahoo News, AOL, The Epoch Times, and more.
