The 65 staff members at Child Development Center III, Fort Meade, Md. are "super excited and extremely proud" to receive their first national accreditation from the National Association of the Education of Young Children, said Annie Hite, director of the center.
NAEYC is a professional organization that promotes excellence in early childhood education. All of Fort Meade's child development centers are now accredited by the organization, which, according to its Web site, gives parents the assurance that child care centers have met rigorous national standards in education, health and safety.
CDC III received notice of its accreditation in July. The accreditation is valid until July 2014.
"I think it is an incredible accomplishment," said Madeline Morey, child administrator with Fort Meade Child, Youth and School Services, who oversees the child development centers on post. "All of the staff worked very hard."
NAEYC accreditation requires child care centers to undergo an extensive self-study process to meet its rigorous standards by monitoring their effectiveness in a wide range of areas, including curriculum, health care standards, supervision, facility management, outreach to families and training.
The CDC III prepared its candidacy packet, detailing its self-study process, and sent it to NAEYC in January. An evaluator from the organization visited the center in May to observe 10 classrooms and review the facility's self-study portfolio.
In late July, Hite received the center's NAEYC Accreditation Decision Report, defining the terms of the accreditation and listing the results of the evaluation.
Hite was pleased to learn that CDC III scored more than 90 percent in each of the 10 accreditation categories required by NAEYC. The results of the classroom evaluations also revealed a more than 95 percent success rate.
"My heart fluttered," Hite said of the exemplary scores.
The report also listed some areas for improvement, including curriculum, teaching, assessment of child progress and health care standards.
Hite said there is always room to improve the center's work and that she and the staff are following the NAEYC guidelines on what needs to be accomplished.
One specific goal Hite has for the center is to increase parental involvement. Parents learned of the accreditation in the center's August newsletter.
"I want to continue with the quality of our program and the care of children," Hite said, noting that the center will work to maintain its accreditation standards. "It's a source of pride to parents and staff to belong to an accredited center."
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