What does NAEYC accreditation mean for my child’s school?
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the largest organization working on behalf of young children. NAEYC consults with early childcare centers to ensure that those centers are aware of, and are following, best practices. A NAEYC accreditation means that the school has completed a self-study and assessment of their program including curriculum, classroom materials, and activities. NAEYC accreditation translates into an intentional curriculum and environment with a strong focus on the community they host.
There are ten standards which cover varying aspects of an early childhood curriculum. Within those standards, are sub-standards that address every possible component that an educator and their students encounter as a school community. NAEYC accredited schools provide experiences that support children in the following ways:
- Cognitively: Through hands-on experiences, use of open-ended questions, modeling, and discussion.
- Socially: Through activities that promote connecting with each other, learning to be part of a group, recognizing emotions, and working through them, as well as using conflict as a teaching mechanism.
- Physically: Addressing fine motor by coaching children during self-help skills, providing opportunities to manipulate objects and materials. Gross motor is addressed by providing opportunities for movement throughout the school morning, and during scheduled outdoor play.
- Language and Literacy: Through running narratives of classroom events, singing, and reading with younger children to learning about story sequencing, and providing opportunities to write. A print-rich environment, as well as teaching strategies that utilize alliteration, rhyme, and repetition can be seen in all preschool classrooms.
For more information regarding NAEYC, please visit:
http://families.naeyc.org/what-to-look-for-in-a-program
http://families.naeyc.org/
NAEYC’s mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources.