Standard 4: NAEYC Accreditation Criteria for Assessment of Child Progress

The following chart presents the accreditation criteria for this topic area. Each criterion provides specific details to guide program plans, policies and practices. The criteria are numbered (01, 02, 03, etc.) within their topic area. Each criterion within each program standard is identified by its relevant age group (or groups). Many criteria are identified as "universal" (U), meaning that all classrooms and programs pursuing NAEYC Accreditation must address these criteria. These aspects of quality should be seen in any programs or classrooms serving birth through kindergarten, though they may look somewhat different in practice depending on the children's age.

Age Groups:
U = universal
I = infant
T = toddlers/twos
P = preschool
K = kindergarten

4.E.
Communicating with Families and Involving Families in the Assessment Process

4.E.01
U   I   T   P   K
Families have ongoing opportunities to share the results of observations from home to contribute to the assessment process.

4.E.02
U   I   T   P   K
Family members are provided information, either verbally or in writing, about their child's development and learning on at least a quarterly basis, with written reports at least two times a year.

4.E.03
U   I   T   P   K
Teachers, families, and relevant specialists have regular opportunities to participate in two-way communication conferences to discuss each child's progress, accomplishments, difficulties in the classroom and at home as well as to plan learning activities.

4.E.04
U   I   T   P   K
Staff work to achieve consensus with families about assessment methods that will best meet the child's needs.

4.E.05
U   I   T   P   K
Communication with families about their child's assessments is sensitive to family values, culture, identity, and home language.

4.E.06
U   I   T   P   K
The program staff provide families with information about the choice, use, scoring, and interpretation of screening and assessment methods that includes

• the purpose and use for which an assessment is designed and its programmatic purpose and use,
• the interpretations of the results and their meaning in terms of future learning opportunities for their child,
• the way teaching staff or others have been trained to use assessment procedures and interpret results as well as the conditions under which the child will be assessed (e.g., group size, time constraints, familiarity with adults involved), and
• access to or information about the specific instruments used.

4.E.07
U   I   T   P   K
The program staff provide families with a full explanation of confidentiality by

• listing the categories of individuals who will have access to individual child screening and assessment results as well as the reasons for their access.
• sharing regulations governing access to files and familial rights.
• describing the procedures used to keep individual child records confidential.
• explaining how and why children's individual screening results and assessment information will be represented, used, and interpreted.