Living and working effectively with other students are skills that young children learn at the Jewish Community Center Child Development Center in Overland Park.
Kids ages 3 to 6 learn fun ways to prepare food and develop skills in reading, math and science.
An emphasis on early childhood education is one of the program’s core values.
In the last year, the center received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that represents nearly 100,000 early childhood professionals who work with children up to age 8.
“They have high standards,” said Cindy Powers, co-director of the Overland Park center. “It’s a national accreditation that’s very difficult to obtain.”
The NAEYC is one of three major national child-care accrediting bodies. The others are the Salt Lake City-based National Association for Family Child Care and the National AfterSchool Association, based in Charlestown, Mass.
Achieving accreditation is a major notch up from what is needed to meet a state’s licensing requirements, Powers said.
The NAEYC standards convey that a center is committed to providing quality education that begins at six weeks of age, not simply custodial care, said Aileen Murphy-Swift, director of the early childhood education program at Operation Breakthrough in Kansas City, which also is accredited by NAEYC.
“Our community members recognize words like accreditation and certification, even if they aren’t aware of all the aspects of quality care,” she said. “It sets the bar for the kind of work that a center can do.”
In Greater Kansas City, about 20 programs with a licensed capacity of 150 children or more have received NAEYC accreditation. Nationwide, nearly 700,000 children are served by more than 8,500 accredited programs.
To qualify, centers must meet specific qualifications for its administrator and teachers, provide annual reports and self-assessments, and be prepared for unannounced visits from NAEYC accrediting officials.
That perhaps helps explain why less than 10 percent of U.S. child-care centers are accredited.
The NAEYC rating is cited by child-care advocates, and by legislators, as a bellwether for quality in early childhood education.
A Missouri Senate bill passed last month would require that the state have in place by Sept. 1 a quality rating system for early childhood and before- and after-school programs licensed in the state.
By 2011, all licensed facilities that voluntarily receive quality improvement funds would be rated using the system. The bill is pending approval by the Missouri House.
An increased emphasis on ratings could be helpful to parents, many of whom juggle the need for high-quality early education with the realities of making weekly child care affordable.
Ratings reinforce the need for center funding and teacher education, Murphy-Swift said. In addition to their daily responsibilities, program administrators have to stay involved to build relationships within the community.
Sister Berta Sailer, an Operation Breakthrough director, recently formed an advocacy committee to monitor legislation on behalf of child issues. Many children and families don’t have a voice at the legislative level, Murphy-Swift said.
“It’s so important,” she said, “because if we’re going to meet the needs of children, we need to meet the needs of all children.”
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