Most states require staff to use learning standards to track developmental milestones for children. This isn't meant to enforce a standardized development of all children. Instead, staff should be aware of the skills that children generally demonstrate when they reach a certain age, and be aware if any child shows regression or a lack of development, as this might indicate a health issue.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has several great resources. You should also check with your local or state standards for more details.
This article will cover the technical aspects for how to customize the milestones in Procare. For suggestions on how to reinterpret your local standards so they fit Procare's format, please click here.
How to Use Milestones in Procare
Procare offers preloaded state standards for all 50 states and Montessori learning. However, these standards are fully customizable.
Procare also offers the Vine Assessment.
To change the milestones configured in a Procare Online account, contact Customer Support.
Watch this video for a quick walkthrough on how to create milestones.
On the website, go to Learning > Lesson Plans > All Milestones (Red Circle) to view your list of learning standards.
Add a Domain
If you'd like to add standards from your own state or local government, click on the blue "Add Domain" (Blue square) button toward the upper right.
You'll see a blue row appear at the top of the chart. Fill out the row with:
Short Name: This is how Procare will quickly reference your domain. For example, you might use "COG" for "Cognitive and General Knowledge."
Title: This would be the full name of the domain (in the previous example, you would use "Cognitive and General Knowledge").
The drop-down box at the end will allow you to assign a category to the domain. Here's a link to a help article for how to manage your categories.
Make Changes to a Domain
Once you've added a domain, or if you decide to make changes to an existing domain, you can hover your mouse over the row to reveal the editing buttons on the right-hand side.
Use the ^ symbol to hide the milestone standards of that domain.
Use the trash can to delete the domain altogether.
Use the pencil icon to edit the domain's short name, title, or category.
Use the blue "Add Milestone" button to create new milestone standards (see more below).
Add Milestones
Once you click on the Add Milestones button, you'll see a blue row similar to the "Add Domain" field. Here, you can enter a description for your standard and click "Save."
