The 2018 Accreditation Process and Standards

You are here
Are you prepared for the 2018 Transition? Tips to Get You Ready
We've made significant enhancements to the accreditation process and standards. Revisions to the NAEYC Early Learning Program Accreditation Standards and Assessment Items were approved by the Council on the Accreditation of Early Learning Programs in January 2018.
Programs with a candidacy due date of January 31, 2018 may choose one of the following options for their site visit assessment. Programs interested in a site visit assessment using Established (option 1) or Streamlined Opt-In (option 2), candidacy or renewal materials must be postmarked before or on March 15, 2018
The Established Materials and Streamlined Opt-In Materials are no longer available. Please email Program Support at accreditation.information@naeyc.org to request a copy of Established or Streamlined Opt-in Materials.
Programs with a candidacy or renewal due date of May 31, 2018 will be assessed using NAEYC Early Learning Program Accreditation Standards and Assessment Items (option 3) approved in January 2018. The candidacy and renewal materials required for this assessment are available in your program record. These materials will help ensure that you and the NAEYC assessor visiting your program are using the same version of the accreditation standards.
Option 3
NAEYC Early Learning Program Accreditation Standards and Assessment Items
Use NAEYC resources
We want you to be successful so we’ve updated resources and tools to support your accreditation efforts. The intent of the newly approved standards and assessment items are similar to the accreditation criteria and indicators but there are some key differences. Data from the 2017 accreditation pilot indicate that programs are most successful when they use NAEYC resources to deepen their understanding of the NAEYC Early Learning Program Accreditation Standards and Assessment Items. We encourage you to use NAEYC resources.
Need Help with Accreditation?
Call: 1-800-424-2460, option 3. | Email: accreditation.information@naeyc.org
Help us with our continuous quality improvement efforts and share your feedback about NAEYC Accreditation. Submit: feedback on the accreditation system