Child Development Center for Learning and Research
The Child Development Center for Learning and Research seeks to provide a model preschool program and leadership for local, state, and national early childhood communities in teaching, learning, and research, as well as to address the service missions of the university.
The center strives to provide a quality preschool for young children and their families based on child development theory, research, and developmentally appropriate practice; provide professional education in child development and early childhood education; and generate new knowledge through study, observation, and research of child development and early childhood education.
The center’s philosophy is grounded in the notion that classrooms are inherently social places in which teachers and children negotiate curriculum together. The center aims to offer a developmentally appropriate environment in which children are given opportunities to make choices; pursue their own questions, interests, and concerns; connect what is known and unknown; and be successful as they explore and discover through play, informal learning investigations, and projects.
The Child Development Center consistently receives the highest ranking from both the Virginia Star Quality system and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The Child Development Center and Adult Day Services have together won national awards for their intergenerational program.
FAMILY TOURS
We encourage you to call and set up a tour to learn more about our program and see our facility. Please fill the online Visit form down bellow or call our Director, Karen Gallagher, 540/231.9815 for an appointment. Tours are for parents only, please.