The reliability of NAEYC’s Assessor System  is critical to the success of NAEYC Accreditation. The NAEYC Academy will develop and maintain procedures regarding required assessor qualifications, selection, conflict of interest, confidentiality, evaluation, termination and retention of Assessors. These procedures support the integrity and reliability of NAEYC Accreditation. The assessor system will include procedures that insure that the assessor core is made up of highly skilled professionals representing diverse groups and the field’s multiple sectors.

NAEYC Assessors are rigorously trained to evaluate programs consistently and reliably according to NAEYC Early Childhood Accreditation Criteria. While visiting programs, assessors collect data based on documentary and observational evidence, and then return that data to the NAEYC Academy for Early Childhood Program Accreditation.

Ongoing training and reliability testing ensure that assessors are always reliable; this in turn ensures the integrity of NAEYC Accreditation of Programs for Young Children. See Assessor Reliability Methodology for more information.

Read more about NAEYC Assessors and their qualifications in the assessor position description.

The NAEYC Academy currently employs roughly 40 assessors. Although the Academy does not currently have any assessor positions available, we will continue to monitor our program numbers and assessor capacity carefully.

The Academy will accept applications for assessor positions throughout the year. When an application is submitted, it will be kept on file and then reviewed once a year and/or as needed.

All applications submitted by December 31 of the current year will be reviewed in January of the following year. Applicants will receive a response four weeks after review.

You may download and complete the NAEYC Assessor Application at any time. Please carefully follow the submission instructions included in the application.