17 College Programs Earn NAEYC Early Childhood
Associate Degree Accreditation

Only 10 percent of eligible programs in the U.S. have earned NAEYC accreditation,
program raises quality of early childhood teacher education

WASHINGTON—The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Commission on Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation is pleased to announce that it has granted accreditation to 17 associate degree programs.

To earn NAEYC accreditation, programs underwent self-study, collected and submitted data and reports, and underwent a site visit by a team of peer reviewers. The entire process typically takes two years to complete, and only about 10 percent of eligible associate degree programs in the United States are accredited.  

The accreditation system establishes professional preparation standards to raise the quality of early childhood teacher education, and in turn raise the quality of early education programs serving young children.

“It is extraordinary that in our first six years so many institutions of higher education have found accreditation to be a valuable process for program improvement,” said Alison Lutton, senior director of Higher Education Accreditation and Program Support at NAEYC. “Since teacher quality is a crucial component in providing high-quality early childhood education to millions of children across the country, it is critical that we continue to work toward improving and growing the early childhood associate degree accreditation system.”

The newly accredited associate degree programs are:

• Aims Community College, CO
      A.A., Early Childhood Education Statewide Articulation Agreement
• Arapahoe Community College, CO
      A.A., Early Childhood Plan of Study
• Clarion University of Pennsylvania, PA
     A.S., Early Childhood Education
• Colorado Mountain College, CO
     A.A.S., Early Childhood Education
• Craven Community College, NC
     A.A.S., Early Childhood Associate
• Front Range Community College, CO
     A.A., Early Childhood Education for Transfer
• Langston University, OK
     A.S., Child Development
• Naugatuck Valley Community College, CT
     A.S., Early Childhood Education
• Olive-Harvey College, IL
     A.A.S., Child Development Preschool Education
• Otero Junior College, CO
     A.A.S., Early Childhood Education
• Pikes Peak Community College, CO
     A.A.S., Early Childhood Education
• Pueblo Community College, CO
     A.A.S., Early Childhood Education
• Red Rocks Community College, CO
     A.A., Early Childhood Education
• Seminole State College of Florida, FL
     A.S., Early Childhood Education
• St. Philip’s College, TX
     A.A.S., Early Childhood Studies
• Trinidad State Junior College, CO
     A.A.S., Early Childhood Education
• Tunxis Community College, CT
     A.S., Early Childhood Education

Nine of the newly accredited programs are part of the Colorado Community College System. Clayton Early Learning, a nonprofit that seeks to provide and improve early childhood education in Colorado, led and facilitated the three-year statewide effort. The initiative received generous support from the Boettcher Foundation.

Accredited associate degree programs provide access to the profession and a strong foundation for the diverse pool of early childhood teachers that are needed in the field.

The newly accredited programs bring the total accredited programs to 155 since 2006. Approximately 10 percent of the eligible associate degree programs in the country are now accredited, with another 137 programs enrolled in self study.

Federal Head Start regulations call for an associate’s degree or higher for teachers, and many states include early childhood associate degrees in their Quality Rating and Improvement Systems for child care and preschool programs. NAEYC’s professional standards for early childhood degree programs provide a high measure of quality by which teacher education programs can be evaluated.

For more information on NAEYC Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation, visit www.naeyc.org/ecada/.