About Us
Mission & Philosophy
We believe all children have the right to participate in a quality early childhood education program with developmentally appropriate activities, in the least restrictive environment possible; we strive to provide the necessary support for the individual child, his or her parents, and the staff. The Falls Church–McLean Children’s Center uses innovative teaching methods to help 70 children ages two to five years old grow and develop alongside peers from many countries representing a variety of ethnicities.
History and Current Program
Volunteers representing over twenty area faith groups organized the Falls Church-McLean Children's Center in 1968 in response to news articles about children being left at home alone or in cars because of the lack of affordable child care. Wanting to address this issue, they established the Center with the mission of providing a comprehensive, high-quality early childhood education program that would be affordable to low-income working families, especially families headed by single parents.
Thanks to the volunteers' unyielding commitment, the Center opened its doors on October 10, 1968, with an enrollment of fifteen children. From these humble beginnings in the basement of Chesterbrook Presbyterian Church, the Center has grown to its current enrollment of 70+ children, in a dedicated wing of Lemon Road Elementary School, built especially for the Center in 2003.
Today, the Center is open from 7:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m., Monday-Friday, year-round. The curriculum draws from multiple sources, including: High/Scope, Reggio Emilia, the Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood, and the Portage Curriculum, all nationally recognized, evidence-based sources. In addition, teachers rely on the educational theories of Erikson, Piaget, and Vygotsky, their years of experience, and the children's individual interests.
Honors
The Center has been honored by the Virginia General Assembly, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and the Fairfax County Public Schools for outstanding service. Temple Rodef Shalom presented the Center with the year Rabbi Richard Sternberger Award for Social Justice, and the Catalogue for Philanthropy chose the Center as one of the finest small charities in Greater Washington. Visit www.catalogueforphilanthropy.org-dc to learn more.
In July 2007 the Fairfax County Office for Children selected us as one of only three child care centers in the County to participate in Governor Kaine’s Start Strong early childhood education pilot program. As part of this pilot we also helped evaluate a new rating system for early childhood education teachers and directors, Virginia’s Star Quality Initiative.
In October, 2007, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the highly regarded early childhood education accrediting agency, selected us as one of only three centers in the United States to participate in the filming of a training video for early childhood educators. The film was used during the NAEYC conference in November as part of a seminar.
In November 2007, First Lady Anne Holton Kaine visited the Center to learn more about our program. She visited classrooms and stayed to talk to one of our CCAR parents about the importance of the subsidy program.
The Executive Director, Elizabeth Page, received the prestigious Fairfax Futures School Readiness Educator Award for 2008 for her deep commitment to building partnerships that support the school readiness of young children. Fairfax Futures is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure that the County’s youngest children are well prepared to succeed in school and in life.
The Northern Virginia affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children chose to give their 2008 award for Outstanding Service to Young Children to the Children’s Center. This is the first time an organization has been given this honor.