NAEYC Accreditation
Voluntary national accreditation for early childhood programs administered by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) operates the largest voluntary national accreditation system for early childhood programs serving children from birth to kindergarten. NAEYC accreditation requires programs to meet 10 standards covering relationships, curriculum, teaching, assessment, health, teachers, families, community, physical environment, and leadership and management. Approximately 6,000 programs hold current NAEYC accreditation nationally, representing a small fraction of the roughly 130,000 licensed childcare centers in the U.S. Accreditation is typically pursued by programs seeking to demonstrate high quality beyond minimum state licensing requirements, and many higher-rated programs in state Quality Rating and Improvement Systems hold NAEYC accreditation as a way to achieve top ratings. The application process takes 18 to 24 months on average and involves self-study, program improvement, documentation of practices, an on-site visit by a trained assessor, and ongoing annual reporting. Accreditation is valid for five years and requires renewal. Direct costs include application fees of roughly $1,000 to $2,000 plus staff time; indirect costs include curriculum materials, staff training, and quality improvements needed to meet standards, which can total tens of thousands of dollars for a typical center. NAEYC ratios and group sizes are stricter than most state licensing requirements: 1:4 for infants with group size of 8, 1:6 for young toddlers with group size of 12, 1:10 for preschoolers with group size of 20, and 1:12 for school-age children with group size of 24. Teachers in NAEYC-accredited programs must hold or be pursuing degrees in early childhood education. Research finds that NAEYC-accredited programs produce modestly better child outcomes than non-accredited programs on average, though the effect is smaller than the differences within accreditation categories. Parents often look for NAEYC accreditation as a quality signal when choosing a provider. Other accrediting bodies include the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation (NECPA) and the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) for home-based providers.