May 6, 2025
NAEYC strives to raise the quality of education for all children from birth through age eight. Accreditation systems are a major part of NAEYC's efforts to improve early childhood education; they allow programs to provide the best learning experiences for young children and their educators by meeting national standards of quality. To learn more about NAEYC’s accreditation systems, visit the NAEYC website.
Since 1985, NAEYC's national accreditation system has set professional standards for early childhood education programs, allowing families to find high-quality programs for their children.Using a set of research-based program standards, NAEYC Accreditation collaborates with early education centers to recognize great work already under way as well as understanding and addressing areas that need improvement.
In March 2025 NAEYC redesigned its accreditation system to better support early learning programs on their path to high-quality early education. The Early Learning Program Quality Assessment and Accreditation System offers a more inclusive, flexible, and streamlined model that reflects the realities of today’s early learning landscape. Grounded in Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and aligned with NAEYC’s Early Learning Program Standards, this new system makes it easier for programs of all types to demonstrate and sustain quality.
This revamp builds on years of feedback from early learning programs, state education agencies, and research institutions, as well as insights from pilot participants. The result is an accreditation model that reduces complexity, improves accessibility, and provides multiple pathways for programs to engage in continuous quality improvement. To learn more about NAEYC Accreditation of Early Learning Programs, visit the NAEYC website.
NAEYC maintains a list of programs that are currently accredited to assist individuals in finding NAEYC-accredited programs in their area.
Accreditation of Higher Education Programs
NAEYC values the role of higher education in advancing the early childhood education profession. Through its higher education accreditation system, NAEYC provides a mechanism for early childhood associate, baccalaureate, and master's degree programs to demonstrate their commitment to high-quality professional preparation.
The NAEYC Commission on the Accreditation of Early Childhood Higher Education Programs awards accreditation to early childhood degree programs that demonstrate evidence of excellence by meeting the NAEYC Higher Education Accreditation Standards. The NAEYC accreditation process provides a framework for self-study, external evaluation, and improvement in the quality of teacher preparation programs. The system is committed to continuous improvement and is guided by the Code of Good Practice set forth by the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA), of which NAEYC is a member. There are currently 172 programs in 35 states with NAEYC-accredited higher education programs.
Recognition of Baccalaureate and Graduate Degree Programs
NAEYC also previously partnered with the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) to grant NAEYC National Recognition to baccalaureate and graduate degree programs that demonstrated their candidate assessments aligned with the NAEYC 2010 Initial and Advanced Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation. As of February 1, 2020, NAEYC has discontinued SPA Program Review with National Recognition as part of the CAEP accreditation process. Programs can find information about what this means for their recognition status and expectations for their early childhood program's documentation for their EPP's site visit here. A list of nationally recognized programs can be found on the CAEP website.