{"id":88190,"date":"2025-05-19T12:16:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/?p=88190"},"modified":"2025-05-19T12:17:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T16:17:17","slug":"outdoor-pilot-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/outdoor-pilot-program\/","title":{"rendered":"MSDE Accepting Applications for Outdoor Child Care Pilot Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">MEDIA CONTACT:<br>Raven Hill, 410-767-0486<br><a href=\"mailto:raven.hill@maryland.gov\">raven.hill@maryland.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>MSDE Accepting Applications for Outdoor Child Care Pilot Program<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>BALTIMORE (May 19, 2025)<\/strong> \u2014 Applications are now open for the new Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) Outdoor Nature-Based Child Care License Pilot Program. This innovative initiative aims to expand high-quality child care options in Maryland by allowing early education in outdoor settings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pilot program will allow qualified providers to operate licensed programs where children engage in full-day, nature-based learning activities year-round.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cResearch consistently shows that nature-based education offers significant benefits for children&#8217;s physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development,\u201d said <strong>Dr. Carey M. Wright, State Superintendent of Schools<\/strong>. \u201cWe are excited to offer innovative early childhood education approaches that support the whole child while fostering environmental awareness.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eligible applicants must demonstrate their ability to meet specific requirements, including:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Providing a program where children spend all operating hours in an outdoor space&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maintaining appropriate staff-to-child ratios&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensuring staff have specialized training in outdoor education&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Implementing comprehensive health, safety, and emergency protocols specific to outdoor settings&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Developing curriculum aligned with Maryland&#8217;s early learning standards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interested providers can access the application materials on the <a href=\"https:\/\/earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org\/\">MSDE Division of Early Childhood website<\/a>. Applications must be submitted by Friday, May 30 at 5:30 p.m. Priority will be given to programs serving a broad range of geographic areas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org\/\">earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">###<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<br \/>\nMEDIA CONTACT:Raven Hill, 410-767-0486<a href=\"mailto:raven.hill@maryland.gov\">raven.hill@maryland.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p>MSDE Accepting Applications for Outdoor Child Care Pilot Program<\/p>\n<p>BALTIMORE (May 19, 2025) \u2014 Applications are <a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/outdoor-pilot-program\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8230;Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsreleases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88190"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88206,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88190\/revisions\/88206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}