Photo: Associated Early Care and Education
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and all of us at Strategies for Children and our Early Education for All Campaign send best wishes for a healthy, happy – and delicious – holiday. We are thankful for all the people who work hard to provide high-quality early learning experiences for young children. So it’s fitting that today we offer our monthly congratulations to the 13 center- and school-based programs in Massachusetts that earned accreditation or reaccreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children in October.
NAEYC accreditation is a widely accepted proxy for quality, and Massachusetts boasts more NAEYC-accredited programs than any other state in the country. Programs applying for state-funded Universal Pre-Kindergarten grants must be accredited by NAEYC or another recognized organization. The Department of Early Education and Care also includes accreditation in the standards for its nascent Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), which will assess program quality, provide incentives for programs to improve and offer valuable information for parents.
The rigorous NAEYC accreditation process measures 10 standards that range from curriculum to family engagement. Accredited programs use a research-based, developmentally appropriate curriculum that promotes children’s social, emotional, physical, language and cognitive growth. They support teachers’ professional development, promote children’s health and nutrition, use age-appropriate methods to assess children’s development and maintain collaborative relationships with parents and guardians.
Congratulations to the following programs, which earned accreditation or reaccreditation in October:
Ayer: Ayer Kiddie Depot
Beverly: Sterling YMCA Enrichment Center
Boston: College Bound Dorchester @ Ruth Darling Child Care (Dorchester), Infants & Other People (South End)
Brockton: Westfield Child Center
Cambridge: Botanic Gardens Children’s Center, Sacramento Street Preschool, Technology Children’s Center Eastgate
Dartmouth: Kiddie Kampus
Lynn: Gregg House Preschool
Nantucket: Small Friends on Nantucket
New Bedford: Betsey B. Winslow School
Walpole: Daniel Feeney Preschool