CENTER FOR CHILD STUDIES ACCREDITED

The Center for Child Studies at Southeast Missouri State University is among the growing number of preschool programs in the United States to be accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs.

The academy recognizes outstanding early childhood programs that meet national standards of quality, said Susan Haugland, director of the Center for Child Studies, which serves 150 children, ages 6 weeks to 5 years.

"Accreditation helps answer the question, What is a quality preschool program?" said Marilyn Smith, executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the nation's oldest and largest association of early childhood professionals, which sponsors the academy.

"Most parents want to find the highest quality program for their young children, however, few parents know how to assess whether a program meets more than just the minimum standards required by state licensing," said Smith.

The academy's standards were developed over a three-year period with input from thousands of educators and administrators from across the country. In 1985, the first program was accredited by NAEYC. In 1993, more than 2,500 program from across the country, including U.S. military installations around the world, were accredited by the academy.

"Accreditation is not meant to replace parents' on-site visits to centers as a means of selecting the program that best meets their child's needs," Smith said, "but accreditation does help parents recognize the varied components that should be present in a quality program."