NAEYC
Accredited Program:
You have chosen an early childhood program for your
child that has been accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood
Programs. The Academy administers a
national, voluntary, professionally sponsored accreditation system for all
types of schools and child care centers.
The Academy is a division of the National Association for the Education
of Young Children, the nation’s largest organization of early childhood
educators.
What is accreditation?
Early childhood programs accredited by the National
Academy of Early Childhood Programs have voluntarily undergone a comprehensive
process of internal self-study, invited external professional review to verify
compliance with the Academy’s Criteria for High Quality Early childhood Programs,
and been found to be in substantial compliance with the Criteria. A copy of the Criteria can be obtained from
the Academy.
What is a high quality early childhood program?
A high quality early childhood program provides a
safe and nurturing environment while promoting the physical, social, emotional,
and intellectual development of young children.
In accredited programs you well see
·
Frequent,
positive, warm interactions among adults and children
·
Planned
learning activities appropriate to children’s age and development, such as
block building, painting, reading stories, dress-up, and active outdoor play
·
Specially
trained teachers
·
Enough
adults to respond to individual children
·
Many
varied age appropriate materials
·
A
healthy and safe environment for children
·
Nutritious
snacks
·
Regular
communication with parents who are welcome visitors at all times
·
Effective
administration
·
Ongoing,
systematic evaluation
To obtain a list of accredited programs, contact
http://www.naeyc.org/accreditation/search/
1-800-424-2460
NAEYC
The National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) is the nation’s largest professional organization of early
childhood professionals. NAEYC assumed a leadership role in adopting
guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice. Developmentally
appropriate practice is based on knowledge about how children develop and
learn.
Principals of
child development and learning that inform developmentally appropriate practice
1. Domains
of children’s development-physical, social, emotional,
and cognitive-are closely related. Development in one domain influences
and is influenced by development in other domains.
2.
Development occurs in a relatively orderly sequence, with later abilities,
skills, and knowledge building on those already acquired.
3.
Development proceeds at varying rates from child to child as well as unevenly
within different areas of each child’s functioning.
4. Early
experiences have both cumulative and delayed effects on individual children’s
development. Optimal periods exist for certain types of development and learning.
5.
Development proceeds in predictable directions toward greater complexity,
organization, and internalization.
6.
Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and
cultural contexts.
7. Children
are active learners, drawing on direct physical and social experience as well
as culturally transmitted knowledge to construct their own understandings of
the world around them.
8.
Development and learning result from interaction of biological maturation and
the environment, which includes both the physical and social worlds that
children live in.
9. Play is
an important vehicle for children’s social, emotional, and cognitive
development, as well as a reflection of their development.
10.
Development advances when children have opportunities to practice newly
acquired skills as well as when they experience a challenge just beyond the
level of their present mastery.
11.
Children demonstrate different modes of knowing and learning and different ways
of representing what they know.
12. Children develop and learn best in the context of a community
where they are safe and valued, their physical needs are met, and they feel
psychologically secure.