You want to make sure you choose the right early learning program for your child, but figuring out which programs offer the quality you seek can be confusing. NAEYC can help parents make the right choice for a child care, preschool, or kindergarten programs. For more than 20 years, families have relied on NAEYC Accreditation to ensure the quality of childhood education and daycare services provided in programs for young children.

Accredited programs have met NAEYC’s 10 standards for high-quality early childhood education. These programs have demonstrated that they provide a safe and healthy environment for toddler learning, have teachers who are well-trained, have access to excellent teaching materials, and work with a curriculum that is appropriately challenging and developmentally sound.

NAEYC Accreditation helps parents find the best possible early childhood education experience for their children. NAEYC-Accredited programs must:

★Promote positive relationships for all children and adults to encourage each child’s sense of individual worth.

★Implement a curriculum that fosters all areas of child development: cognitive, emotional, language, physical, and social.

★Use developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate and effective teaching approaches.

★Provide ongoing assessments of each child’s learning and development and communicate the child’s progress to the family.

★Promote the nutrition and health of children and protect children and staff from illness and injury.

★Employ and support a teaching staff that has the educational qualifications, knowledge, and professional commitment necessary to promote children’s learning and development and to support families’ diverse interests and needs.

★Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with each child’s family.

★Establish relationships with and use the resources of the community to support achievement of program goals.

★Provide a safe and healthy physical environment.

★Implement strong personnel, fiscal, and program management policies so that all children, families, and staff have high-quality experiences.

NAEYC Accreditation: No Small Feat

Early childhood education programs are proud to be accredited by NAEYC because they know they have worked hard for that achievement. Using NAEYC tools and materials, they are continuously improving their after-school care programs to provide the best possible educational opportunities for children.

After an extensive application process, skilled and reliable NAEYC program assessors visit each program to determine that it is meeting NAEYC standards. Following accreditation, all programs are subject to random, unannounced visits by assessors to ensure that the programs continue to meet these standards.

Be sure to look for the NAEYC Accreditation torch when choosing a program for your child!