The NAEYC Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation system is tailored to meet the unique characteristics of individual community colleges and other associate-degree-granting institutions, emphasizing the strengths and assets of each program.

 

NAEYC developed the accreditation system to define a national standard of excellence for early childhood teacher education at the associate degree level, filling a gap in the U.S. teacher education system.

 

Here’s the list of accredited associate degree programs in the U.S.

 

 

NAEYC offers national Recognition to baccalaureate and graduate early childhood degree programs that are part of teacher education departments with National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation. NCATE accredits the entire teacher education department. Appropriate Specialized Professional Associations (referred to as “SPAs”) review specific degree programs and award national recognition to those programs that meet their specialized professional standards. NAEYC is one SPA in NCATE’s accreditation system.

 

NCATE accreditation can include Initial licensure programs and advanced programs. Initial teacher early childhood licensure programs may be offered at the bachelor's or master's levels. Advanced early childhood programs may be offered at the master's or doctoral levels. Initial programs offer initial early childhood coursework. Advanced programs offer advanced early childhood coursework for students who already have early childhood degrees or early childhood licensure.

 

In both associate degree accreditation and initial and advanced degree recognition, programs provide evidence of strong student performance on each of the NAEYC Professional Preparation Standards: applied knowledge of child development and learning, work with families and communities, use of assessment and documentation, the practice of teaching and learning, and becoming an early childhood professional. Success in program improvement and National Recognition of the program depends on the alignment of program assessments with the NAEYC standards.

  

To find an NAEYC recognized initial or advanced early childhood program, visit the NCATE website.