Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments Quality Tool (COLEQT) is a portable tool aimed at assessing outdoor learning environments (OLE) quality across four levels of 13 built environment activity settings considered to be strongly supportive of healthy child development. This training is an introduction to the Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments Quality Tool (COLEQT). The objective of the instrument is to provide a valid, reliable tool for assessing the quality of outdoor environments and their use and at the same time provide guidance to childcare professionals and site administrators to assist them in making improvements.

Learning Outcomes

• Learn how to identify high-quality settings and components for children’s outdoor play and learning.
• Describe activity settings and components using an environment behavior approach.
• Assess outdoor learning environments using COLEQT’s four-level rating system.
• Use COLEQT as a tool to increase outdoor quality for children’s healthy development.
• Discover how to use the rating items to guide improvement plans.

Professional Development Modules

The Modules will help participants to identify high-quality settings and features in childcare outdoor environments and rate them. Results are used to guide improvement plans.

Content includes:

• Identifying outdoor learning environment settings and components.
• The path to increasing outdoor environmental quality in childcare.
• Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments Quality Tool (COLEQT) item descriptions and rating.
• Creating improvement plans based on results.

Who is the training for?

• Early childhood technical assistance providers
• Early childhood educators
• Public health professionals supporting early childhood programs

This course is worth 0.2 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) from North Carolina State University.