Accreditation is a measure of quality assurance. It’s validation by a third party that a child care provider’s practices and facilities meet established standards.
Kiddie Academy encourages and supports each independently owned and operated franchise location to secure accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the gold standard for excellence in the field of early childhood education. We also recommend that Academies seek the highest level of achievement at the state level. States develop their own certification programs based on the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). This is a framework offered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for states to establish their own rating systems.
So, what happens during the NAEYC accreditation process? Accreditation requires the completion of a rigorous and comprehensive period of self-study involving administrators, staff, parents and community. The self-study identifies program strengths and areas for continued improvement; and a development plan is established to map out goals and strategies for program enhancement. Once the self-study is completed, a team of independent evaluators, representing leaders in the field of early childhood education, conducts an on-site visit to determine whether the program meets or exceeds accreditation standards and established quality indicators and, ultimately, merits accreditation.
When an Academy receives accreditation, here are just a few things it signals to parents:
Cognia Accreditation is a designation of quality recognized around the world. It is awarded by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCACASI), the Northwest Accreditation Commission
(NWAC), and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI). Together, these organizations have been accrediting institutions for more than 125 years. As the most powerful form of improvement, Cognia™ Performance Accreditation uses research-based standards and evaluative criteria to examine a whole institution or system—the policies, programs, practices, learning conditions, and cultural context—to determine how well the parts work together to carry out the system’s vision
The National Association for the Education of Young Children, founded in 1926, has nearly 90,000 members worldwide. The National Association for the Education of Young Children is one of the nation’s premier organizations for early childhood professionals–setting research-based standards and providing resources to improve early childhood program quality, enhance the professional development and working conditions of program staff, and to help families learn about and understand the need for high quality early childhood education. Though position statements, work with other organizations, and its national voluntary accreditation system, NAEYC is a leader in promoting excellence in early childhood education for all your children from birth through age 8.
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