NAEYC Accredited

NAEYC’s accreditation system strives to be a standard bearer for high quality early care and education programs. Towards this end, the NAEYC Academy works to (1) recognize early childhood programs that perform in compliance with the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards as demonstrated through satisfactory performance of the Accreditation Criteria and (2) be responsive to its multiple customers.

The NAEYC Academy establishes and maintains a clearly defined process for pursuing, achieving, and maintaining NAEYC Accreditation. The intent of the process will be to ensure that programs meet NAEYC’s definition of excellence for an early childhood program and increase the accountability of the system for children, families, and all customers of NAEYC Accreditation.  

The term of accreditation shall be 5 years.

To recognize early childhood programs that have achieved NAEYC Accreditation and to make readily accessible to families and other customers, information on NAEYC accredited programs, the NAEYC Academy is obligated to ensure that a program’s accreditation status is advertised and verifiable in a way that accurately informs these customers. 

Only currently NAEYC-accredited programs may use any symbol, logo, or reference to NAEYC Accreditation when publicly advertising their program.

During a program’s 5-year term of accreditation, the NAEYC Academy will establish procedures to ensure that its accredited programs maintain substantial compliance with the current early childhood program accreditation standards and criteria. 

Why NAEYC Accreditation?

NAEYC Accreditation of programs for young children represents the mark of quality in early childhood education.  NAEYC Accreditation began in 1985 with the goal of providing an accrediting system that would raise the level of early childhood programs. Today, over 7,000 programs are NAEYC Accredited.

NAEYC accredited programs invest in early childhood education because they believe in the benefits to children and families.  Early childhood experiences—from birth to age 8—have an enormous impact on children’s lifelong learning and positively contribute to their health and development.  Early childhood education programs with the mark of quality benefit children with greater readiness for and success in school.

It is for this reason that parents and families are seeking out NAEYC-accredited programs.  Parents choosing an early childhood education program can be overwhelmed by trying to find the highest-quality program for their child. NAEYC Accreditation is the mark of quality that families are looking for. NAEYC Accreditation gives families the chance to make the Right Choice for Kids.

Benefits of being NAEYC Accredited:

• Helps to build a stronger team of teachers, administrators, and families working together to improve quality for children.
• Improved standards for the overall program
• Recognition through NAEYC, including program listing on the NAEYC website in the Program Search section
• Announcement of program’s accreditation in the NAEYC Early Learning News weekly newsletter to programs, members, media, and others.
• Use of NAEYC Accredited logo for marketing purposes
• Attracts more families to enroll their children at program

NAEYC Contributions

The following groups within NAEYC contribute to NAEYC Accreditation of Programs for Young Children.

• NAEYC Academy - implements the NAEYC accreditation process
• NAEYC Assessors - conduct site visits
• Accreditation Program Support - supports programs throughout the accreditation process
• Council for NAEYC Accreditation - ensures the equity, integrity, and accountability of the NAEYC Academy