Standard 1: NAEYC Accreditation Criteria for Relationships

Program Standard: The program promotes positive relationships among all children and adults to encourage each child’s sense of individual worth and belonging as part of a community and to foster each child’s ability to contribute as a responsible community member.

Rationale: Positive relationships are essential for the development of personal responsibility, capacity for self-regulation, for constructive interactions with others, and for fostering academic functioning and mastery. Warm, sensitive, and responsive interactions help children develop a secure, positive sense of self and encourage them to respect and cooperate with others. Positive relationships also help children gain the benefits of instructional experiences and resources. Children who see themselves as highly valued are more likely to feel secure, thrive physically, get along with others, learn well, and feel part of a community.

Within each of the 10 NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards are topic areas that highlight the big ideas to more fully express the meaning and value of the standard. Each topic area includes criteria that further define the meaning of quality in that area. The topic areas are identified by letters (A, B, C, etc.). The number of topic areas within a standard varies. The following list presents the topic areas for this standard. Click on the topic area to link to the accreditation criteria.

Topic Areas

1.A.
Building Positive Relationships among Teachers and Families

1.B.
Building Positive Relationships between Teachers and Children

1.C.
Helping Children Make Friends

1.D.
Creating a Predictable, Consistent, and Harmonious Classroom

1.E.
Addressing Challenging Behaviors

1.F.
Promoting Self-Regulation