Newsletter Articles

New policies, procedures and fees for NAEYC Accreditation
Submitted by: Kristin Perrone, Accreditation and CDA chairperson

The NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation will make several important changes to the early childhood program accreditation system of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). These changes will increase the system's reliability and accountability and promote higher program quality.

The policies build on other improvements to NAEYC's accreditation system, including the five-year term of accreditation, the 15-day window for scheduling validation visits, and the field-testing of new procedures for compensated validators and online scheduling. These changes are designed to improve service, significantly reducing the time that programs wait for validation visits, and increasing the integrity of the system.

Annual reporting

As of January 1, 2005, the NAEYC Academy will require all accredited programs to file Annual Reports each year. Over the course of the new five-year term of accreditation, every program will file four Annual Reports, beginning on the first anniversary of its commission decision.

Unannounced verification visits

Beginning January 1, 2005, the Academy will randomly select a number of accredited programs around the country to receive unannounced visits. These new policies emphasize the importance of ongoing program improvement and self-assessment and help the Academy ensure that all programs continue to comply with the accreditation criteria.

New accreditation fee structure

Since the launch of NAEYC Accreditation in 1985, program fees have never fully covered the cost of accrediting programs. In fact, in the current fiscal year, NAEYC will spend about $1.8 million to support the accreditation process. Increased fees are needed to pay for the steps to strengthen the reliability and integrity of the system and ensure that all programs receive prompt and efficient service.

Two fees will be assessed at the entry stage in the new process: one when a program purchases self-study materials, and the other when a program files its Notification of Intent (indicating that the program is fully engaged in the self-study process and plans to complete its self-assessment within a specified time frame). A third fee will be due when a program requests an on-site visit. Programs that have earned NAEYC Accreditation will pay a fee with each of the four Annual Reports they file over the five-year term.

Program deadlines for the current system

Another critical step in the transition to the new system of NAEYC Accreditation, which will be fully operational in 2006, is establishing deadlines for participation in the current system. To help the Academy anticipate and plan for requests for validation visits in the transition period, a program seeking a visit under the current standards and criteria must file a Notification of Intent indicating that it will submit its completed program description by a specified date.

Programs must meet the deadlines specified for filing the Notification of Intent and submitting the program description to be eligible to apply for NAEYC Accreditation in the current system. Programs that do not meet these deadlines will be eligible to apply again when the new system is fully operational in 2006 (New self-study materials will be available in December 2005).

Early childhood programs and other stakeholders have requested these improvements since the reinvention process began. They are important steps toward making NAEYC Accreditation better - for children, families, programs, employers, and all the groups that rely on the system.

For more details, and to stay informed about the new materials and procedures, please visit the website regularly to keep up to date: www.naeyc.org/accreditation.