Naval Station Guantanamo Bay's (NSGB) Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Villamar Child Development Center (CDC) has achieved National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Accreditation.

"The NAEYC accreditation is a mark of program excellence; ensuring our program meets or exceeds industry standards in early childhood education," said Karen Sloan, director, MWR Child and Youth Programs. "For parents currently enrolled and those considering enrolling in our CDC, they can be reassured that our program provides children with high quality care and a strong foundation across all developmental domains."

The CDC had been accredited previously accredited, but a decision was made to not renew while the program was temporarily located at the Elementary School.

For over 30 years, families have relied on NAEYC Accreditation to ensure that high quality education and care are provided in programs for young children. Early childhood programs accredited by NAEYC Accreditation have voluntarily undergone a comprehensive process of internal self-study and continuous quality improvement.

"CNIC Inspection criteria are similar to NAEYC standards so we were already poised to become accredited," said Sloan. "There was nothing significant we had to change, but we did have to prepare documented evidence or portfolios for each classroom and for the program administration. This was a big undertaking with hundreds of criteria to document within 10 different program Standards."

The ten standards which NAEYC uses in their accreditation process were created with input from experts and educators from around the country. The standards determine what NAEYC - the world's largest organization of early childhood professionals - believes all early learning programs should provide. There are Required Criteria that must be met and Emerging Criteria that if met, can earn the program extra points on the final score.

According to these standards, all NAEYC-Accredited programs must:

1. Promote positive relationships for all children and adults to encourage each child's sense of individual worth.
2. Implement a curriculum that fosters all areas of child development: cognitive, emotional, language, physical and social.
3. Use developmentally, culturally and linguistically appropriate and effective teaching practices.
4. Provide ongoing systematic, formal and informal assessment tools to provide information on children's learning and development.
5. Promote the nutrition and health of children and protect children and staff from illness and injury.
6. Employ and support a teaching staff with the educational qualifications, knowledge and professional commitment necessary to promote children's learning and development and to support families' diverse needs and interests.
7. Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with each child's family to foster children's development in all settings.
8. Establish relationships with and use the resources of the children's communities to support the achievement of program goals.
9. Provide a safe and healthful physical environment.
10. Implement policies, procedures and systems that support stable staff and strong personnel, and fiscally responsible program management so all children, families, and staff have high-quality experiences.

Villamar CDC received a 100% rating in 5 of the Standards and an average score of 95% for all 10 Standards.

"This was truly a team effort," said Sloan. "Many CDC staff went above and beyond, spending countless hours preparing the portfolios and gathering the evidence, in preparation of the visit."

NAEYC Accreditation is awarded for a five-year term. During that period, programs submit annual reports documenting that they are consistently meeting the NAEYC program standards. All NAEYC-Accredited programs are also subject to unannounced visits by skilled and reliable NAEYC program assessors to ensure that they continue to meet the standards. To verify a program's accreditation, please visit www.naeyc.org. For more information ab out the standards and NAEYC Accreditation, visit www.naeyc.org/academy. For additional resources for your family, visit families.naeyc.org.

"I am proud of our team's accomplishments and pleased to have our program endorsed by NAEYC," said Sloan. "We are thankful to the parents, MWR support services and the community for their support during this process."

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