Accreditation

The Children's Center is one of only twenty-eight accredited programs in the State of Idaho. Our program has been accredited through NAEYC since March, 1993. The Center began the four step process of renewing our accreditation in March, 2006.

What is Accreditation?

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the nation's leading organization of early childhood professionals, created its accreditation program in 1985 to set professional standards for early childhood education, and to help families identify high-quality child care and early education programs. To earn NAEYC's accreditation, a program conducts a self-study to determine how well it meets the ten standards, and the more than 400 related criteria. After necessary improvements are made, the program is observed by independent, professional assessors, and then reviewed by a national panel. Programs are accredited by NAEYC for a five-year period.

What Are the Ten Standards?

1. Promote positive relationships for all children and adults to encourage each child's sense of individual worth.
2. Implement a curriculum that fosters all areas of child development: cognitive, emotional, language, physical, and social.
3. Use developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate and effective teaching approaches.
4. Provide ongoing assessments of a child's learning and development and communicate the child's progress to the family.
5. Promote the nutrition and health of children and protect children and staff from injury and illness.
6. Employ 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 needs and interests.
7. Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with each child's family.
8. Establish relationships with and use the resources of the community to support the achievement of program goals.
9. Provide a safe and healthy physical environment.
10. Implement strong personnel, fiscal, and program management policies so that all children, families, and staff have high-quality experiences.

Why Be Accredited?

NAEYC Accreditation is recognized across the country as the mark of quality education for young children.

NAEYC Accreditation is the strongest system available to early childhood education programs, providing them with the tools and assistance they need to continuously improve their programs and meet NAEYC's stringent program standards. More than 11,000 early childhood programs - serving over one million young children - are currently accredited by NAEYC

What are the Four Steps of Accreditation?

Step 1: Enrollment : Programs must go through a self-assessment before applying for accreditation. The Children's Center began this step in March, 2006.

Step 2: Application : Programs submit an application and determine a time frame for completing a formal self-assessment report. Our Application was submitted in June, 2007.

Step 3: Candidacy : Fundamental licensing, staffing, health, and safety requirements must be met by all programs. Candidacy materials will be submitted in September, 2007

Step 4: On-Site Visit : Observation of the program by NAEYC assessors determines if the program meets all 10 NAEYC standards. The Children's Center will observed sometime between October, 2007 and March, 2008. UPDATE! The Children's Center has obtained re-accreditation!