About NAEYC
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is dedicated to improving the well-being of all young children, with particular focus on the quality of educational and developmental services for all children from birth through age 8. NAEYC is committed to becoming an increasingly high performing and inclusive organization.
Founded in 1926, NAEYC is the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children with nearly 100,000 members, a national network of over 300 local, state, and regional Affiliates, and a growing global alliance of like-minded organizations. NAEYC Accreditation means that your child’s program meets NAEYC’s 10 standards of excellence in early childhood education. Programs that meet these standards provide a safe and healthy environment for children, have teachers who are well-trained, have access to excellent teaching materials, and work with curriculum that is appropriately challenging and developmentally sound. These programs are continuously improving themselves to provide the best possible educational opportunities for children.
The Right Choice for Kids
Are you choosing a child care program for your son or daughter? Are you frightened or sad about the thought of someone else taking care of your child? Many families struggle with the decision to enroll their children into child care, and once the decision is made, choosing the right program is just as hard.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) can help parents feel good about the child care, preschool, and kindergarten programs they choose. More than 20 years ago, NAEYC created an accreditation system to improve the quality of education and care provided in programs for young children. NAEYC Accreditation has become the mark of quality, helping parents find the best possible early childhood experience.
"I think one of the greatest advances to child care was the creation of the NAEYC Accreditation system, which has helped so much to raise the quality of programs."
-T Berry Brazelton, M.D.
The Brazelton
Institute
Children's Hospital Boston
Harvard Medical School
NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation
The NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation administers a national, voluntary accreditation system to help raise the quality of all types of preschools, kindergartens, and child care centers. Currently there are more than 10,000 NAEYC-accredited programs, serving nearly one million children and their families. Since the system began in 1985, NAEYC Accreditation has provided a powerful tool through which early childhood professionals, families, and others concerned about the quality of early childhood education can evaluate programs, compare them with professional standards, strengthen the program and commit to ongoing evaluation and improvement.
The NAEYC Governing Board established a project to reinvent accreditation, including the development of new program standards, accreditation criteria, and assessment procedures, as well as steps to improve the reliability and accountability of the system while better managing the demand for accreditation. The transition to the next era of NAEYC Accreditation is now underway, and the new system will be fully operational in September 2006.
Historical Overview
The National Association for the Education of Young Children has become the nation's premier organization 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. Through position statements, work with other organizations, and its national voluntary accreditation system, NAEYC has been the leader in promoting excellence in early childhood education for all young children from birth through age 8.
NAEYC's roots extend to the 1920s when professional researchers and educators began organizing nursery schools for young children. Concerned about the quality of the proliferating programs, Patty Smith Hill identified a multidisciplinary group of 25 individuals, among them Arnold Gesell, Lois Meek (Stolz), and Abigail Eliot, to consider the need for a new association. A public conference was held in Washington, DC in 1926. By 1929, the group was organized as the National Association for Nursery Education (NANE) and had published its first book—Minimum Essentials for Nursery Education.
In the 1930s and 1940s, NANE members, although few in number, were actively involved in the development and implementation of Works Progress Administration (WPA) nursery schools and child care programs established by the Lanham Act during World War II. A small group of dedicated volunteers kept the association going with biennial conferences, a quarterly bulletin, and various publications. In the mid 1950s an important strategic decision was made. Existing state, local, and regional organizations for nursery education could affiliate with NANE if all of their members joined the national association. Within a few years, membership increased five-fold, to more than 5,000 members. In 1964, NANE was reorganized as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Also that year, the federal Head Start program was launched, focusing public attention on preschool education.
NAEYC entered a period of rapid growth, reaching 31,000 members by its 50th anniversary in 1976. In the early 1980s, concern about the quality of early childhood services available to the burgeoning numbers of families seeking child care and preschool programs for their young children led NAEYC to begin planning a national voluntary accreditation system for early childhood programs. Between 1985 and 1990, the five years of NAEYC's accreditation system, membership doubled-from 45,000 to more than 90,000 members. Also in the 1980s, NAEYC began issuing a number of influential position statements, addressing various topics in early childhood education and professional preparation. Early Childhood Research Quarterly began publication in 1986. Annual conferences continued to be a hallmark of NAEYC, growing to be among the largest educational meetings in the nation.
NAEYC's work in developing position statements and setting standards for different aspects of early childhood education continued throughout the 1990s. The National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development focuses attention on improving the quality of preparation and ongoing professional development for teachers of young children by providing a place to learn from researchers about new developments and evaluations of pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and teacher education.
Membership has continued to grow to reach 100,000 members. In the late 1990s, emphasis was placed on building the visibility and effectiveness of the Association's public policy and advocacy efforts.
By its 75th anniversary in 2001, the association was engaged in a project to reinvent its accreditation system (scheduled to be fully implemented in 2006). Funding provided by a variety of contributors has been instrumental to the success of this effort. In addition, a comprehensive restructuring of its affiliate groups (most of which successfully re-affiliated in 2004) had also been launched. Interest Forums were established as a membership benefit in 2001 to encourage communities of learning on issues related to the NAEYC mission. Funding provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation enabled NAEYC to establish the Supporting Teachers, Strengthening Families project to prevent child abuse and promote children's healthy social development by helping teachers better communicate with families on difficult issues.
In 2003, NAEYC created a Global Alliance to foster communications and build understanding among organizations around the world with missions similar to its own. The Association also adopted standards for professional preparation associate degree programs in early childhood education and launched plans to develop an accreditation system for these institutions. This effort has been generously supported by a number of contributors. Support from the Knight Foundation, beginning in 2003, allowed the establishment of a project to work with selected communities on school readiness issues and to develop prototypes for enhanced distance learning opportunities.
The results of earlier efforts to build the Association's policy presence are clearly visible in 2004. Nearly 11,000 individuals subscribe to NAEYC's federal and state public policy email updates. Affiliates and members receive training, technical assistance and resources to help them improve the capacity of their efforts to promote good public policies and investments in affordable, high quality early childhood education programs. NAEYC is recognized as a leading voice in Congress and in state capitols on what is needed to help improve early childhood programs and services for all young children and their families, ranging from child care and Head Start, to early elementary grade reading programs and appropriate assessment.
Publications and conferences—core services for the Association since its earliest days—have continued to grown in visibility and importance. Early childhood educators look to NAEYC for journals, books, and other resources that combine a solid research base and information and features that make them highly accessible and useful for practitioners, teacher educators, and policy makers. NAEYC Conferences continue to be the meetings that just can't be missed, serving a critical convening function for the early childhood profession and providing a valuable professional development opportunity.
Approaching its 80th anniversary, NAEYC is proud of its traditions, but also looks to the future. The Association is committed to becoming an ever more high performing inclusive organization that invites all individuals, families, communities and organizations to work together to improve the lives of all young children.
Santa Lucia School 2008-9