NAEYC Accreditation Overview presented by Dr. Melissa Werner Snead State Community College

1. NAEYC Accreditation Overviewpresented by Dr. Melissa WernerSnead State Community College

2. NAEYC Accreditation Overviewpresented by Dr. Melissa WernerSnead State Community College Accreditation Process Accreditation tasks and timelines

3. Review of readiness survey • Review how it went • Still working on getting all on board • An overview of the entire process • Survey is found at NAEYC’s website http://www.naeyc.org/accreditation/readiness/readiness.pdf

4. Accreditation Process • Self-study • How well are criteria met, what improvements are needed, report compliance with criteria • Validation visit • On-site visit • Commission decision • Review of validated program description

5. Components of a High Quality Early Childhood Program • Interactions among teachers and children • Curriculum • Relationships among teachers and families • Staff qualifications and development • Administration

6. Components of a High Quality Early Childhood Program (continued) • Staffing • Physical environment • Health and safety • Nutrition and food service • Evaluation

7. Purpose of Self-Study The primary purpose of the self-study is to examine the quality of life experienced by children in the program

8. The Goal • Always keep sight of your goal – to provide the best quality program for young children and their families.

9. What is the self-study? • Comprehensive and internal revaluation of all aspects of the early childhood program

10. How is the self-study used? • It is used by program personnel to systematically evaluate their program and identify strengths and areas in need of improvement. • After improvements are made the results are reported to the academy for use in validation and making accreditation decisions.

11. Benefits of Self-Study • Bring staff together • Common goal of high quality • Assure parents of high quality

12. Constructive ways to do self-study • Director, staff and board decide to undergo the accreditation process • Director delegates responsibilities for tasks and engages all staff • Staff members give careful consideration and self-examination in evaluation

13. How long does the self-study take? • Most programs spend between 9 and 12 months. • Programs that take longer than a year sometimes do not finish it. • Information sent to the Academy must be current. The Academy defines current as within three months. In other words the program description must be within describe the situation of the program within the 3 months prior to submission.

14. Self-study Flowchart • STEP 1 • Order materials • Introduce concept of accreditation to staff and families

15. Self-study Flowchart • STEP 2 GATHER INFORMATION • Conduct classroom observations • Distribute open-ended family survey • Distribute open-ended teaching staff survey • IDENTIFY STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

16. Formulate improvement plan • Two types of change • Physical or technical changes, such as get new playground surfacing or garbage cans • Social or behavioral, rearrange a classroom, use more developmentally appropriate activities • Social/behavioral changes are hard and stressful • Limited resources must be used wisely • Change the things you can, you may not be able to get a new building • Decide whether to seek accreditation

17. Ways to make improvements • Arrange staff meetings • Create policies • Organize documentation • Network with other accredited programs • Take a class

18. Following improvements • Conduct final classroom observations • Distribute family questionnaires • Distribute teaching staff questionnaires • Complete administrator’s report • Gather documents in one place • Complete program description

19. Accreditation Task and Timeline chart • Self-study and program improvement • Observe and rate each classroom using classroom observation form (staff) • Observe and rate each classroom using classroom observation form (administrator) • Meet with individual staff to discuss results and plan for improvement

20. Accreditation Task and Timeline chart • Orientation • Review the Guide and instructions • Meet with staff to go over project and give instructions

21. Accreditation Task and Timeline chart • Self-study and program improvement • Evaluate program using administrator report as your workbook • Collect information on staffing and staff qualifications to summarize on center profile • Staff evaluate program using teaching staff questionnaire as a guide • Evaluate criteria related to parents using family questionnaire as a guide • Other tasks

22. Program description • Meet with individual staff to decide on agreed upon ratings on observation form • Tabulate results on classroom observation summary sheet • Distribute teaching staff questionnaires • Summarize results of teaching staff questionnaires

23. Program description • Distribute family questionnaires • Remind parents to return (but do not send out of building)\ • Summarize results of family questionnaires • Compile program description using summary sheets • Photocopy program description • Mail program description, check and observation summary sheet to academy via certified mail

24. For further information • Contact NAEYC at 800-424-2460 • http://www.naeyc.org • Or Call Dr. Melissa Werner • Snead State Community College 256-593-5120 • Email: MWerner@Snead.edu • Good Luck!!!