First Presbyterian Day School Achieves NAEYC Accreditation

First Presbyterian Day School has officially achieved accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)!

The NAEYC Accreditation process is a 3-year, multi-step journey based on NAEYC's 10 Accreditation Standards.  Each standard has anywhere from 5-40 individual indicators of high-quality childcare programs that must be considered. Classrooms and programs are evaluated in two ways: portfolios and observation.

In the first year, programs undertake an extensive self-study, from a classroom, as well as program perspective, using the standards and tools provided by NAEYC and surveys of staff and families.  The second and third year the program focuses on gathering documentation for portfolios and making programmatic or classroom changes identified during self-study in the first year.

Documentation involves creating classroom portfolios (one for each age group represented at the center- many centers have 3-5 classroom portfolios).  Teachers work to gather photos, lesson plans, assessment examples and more to provide evidence of how they meet criteria in each classroom/age group.  In addition to the classroom portfolios, a program portfolio is created documenting how administrative, HR, training, safety practices and more meet the criteria listed as best practice.  These portfolios are very detailed and require teachers and administrators to examine, reflect and select the best example of their work in each area.

In addition to portfolios, classrooms and programs are assessed using observation tools.  The observation tools, like the portfolio tools, are based on the 10 Standards and have 5-40 indicators per standard that the NAEYC assessor will look for when they come for the in person, accreditation site visit.  The observation tool looks at teacher/child/parent interaction, classroom equipment and materials, and well as teaching strategies in action and displayed in the room.  Time in preparation for the visit is spent reflecting on if and how those standards are being met.  Changes or additions are made where needed.

At the end of the third year, programs submit their candidacy.  Within 3 months of submission, a NAEYC assessor comes to the program.  During the visit, the assessor spends 45 minutes in each classroom (one per age group, chosen randomly) and approximately the same amount of time with each portfolio that has been prepared.  Accreditation decisions are delivered to the program 4-6 weeks week later.  The results come with an itemized report, and some written feedback, on how programs performed on every item, on each tool.  Each standard must be passed with a minimum of 60%, with an overall score of at least 80% over the two tools (observation/portfolio) to receive accreditation.

In normal circumstances, this process is time consuming and daunting.  First Presbyterian Day School began their Accreditation journey during the Pandemic.  The first full year of their work with our technical assistance was done only virtually.  This added another layer of challenge to an already monumental task.  The staff and administration at FPDS worked collaboratively and creatively to address anything that came their way during this journey.  There were many 'ah ha' moments for teachers, season as well as novice, and for administration. Their growth and achievement through this process is to be commended!