Does Day Care Center Accreditation Matter for Your Child's Care?

When parents start looking for a child care provider, they might find it tough to find a center that meets their needs. The center that they pick should have a strong curriculum, a clean and safe environment, a good teacher to child ratio as well as excellent security. Accredited daycare centers will strive to match these requirements. 

Importance of Accreditation

Daycare accreditation is not a requirement but more of a voluntary process that centers choose to show their credibility and quality. It is an extra step that many programs take to demonstrate their professionalism and to receive validation for best practices. The accreditation helps in the following ways.

• Helps determine if the center meets or exceeds minimum quality standards.
• Creates goals for self-improvement.
• Provides a self-regulatory alternative for state oversight.
• It strives to improve the quality of early learning programs.
• It provides families with high quality programs.
• Encourages professional development of teachers and staff.
• Implements curriculum to foster all-round child development.

Also Read: Importance of daycare in child development

Child care centers can apply for and receive national accreditation from different accrediting associations. The guidelines may be different for each but are higher than the requirements for state licensing. The process includes a validation visit to verify information, and an annual certification. Once accredited, the child care provider will receive a certificate to verify its status.

A good daycare center will follow certain methods and practices to achieve accreditation. These include:

• Developing culturally and linguistically appropriate and effective teaching approaches.
• Providing an ongoing assessment of each child’s learning and development.
• Promoting nutrition and health of children.
• Seeking to protect children and staff from illness and injury.
• Employing and supporting staff with the educational qualifications and knowledge that will promote a child’s development.
• Supporting every family’s diverse interests.
• Maintaining communication with each child’s family.
• Achieving program goals.
• Implementing strong program management policies for high quality educative and developmental experiences.

If you are looking for a daycare center that offers quality education and a secure environment, make sure that the institution that you are checking out is accredited.