Policy: Verification of Continued Program Compliance with Accreditation Criteria/Early Childhood Program Standards

NAEYC’s accreditation system strives to be a standard bearer for high quality early care and education programs. Towards this end, the NAEYC Academy works to recognize early childhood programs that perform in compliance with its early childhood program standards and criteria for program quality and strives to be responsive to its multiple customers. During a program’s 5-year term of accreditation, the NAEYC Academy is obligated to ensure that its accredited programs maintain compliance with the present accreditation early childhood program standards and criteria. Fulfilling this obligation assures families and other purchasers of NAEYC-accredited programs that procedures exist for monitoring programs’ ongoing compliance with performance expectations.

This will be accomplished by:

• Requiring accredited programs to report within 90 days changes that alter the program’s ability to maintain its continued compliance with NAEYC’s accreditation performance criteria/early childhood program standards. Changes that must be reported include organizational and programmatic changes and facility changes. The report must be accompanied by a written explanation of how, in the context of the change, the program has maintained its ongoing compliance with NAEYC’s accreditation performance criteria/early childhood program standards.
  • Specific examples of program-altering changes include, but are not limited to changes in: licensing status, location/physical facility, ownership, program governance, age groups being served, and program court orders.
• Requiring accredited programs to submit Annual Reports wherein programs
  • Report the changes listed above plus changes in administration, teaching staff and staffing patterns,
  • Document the impact of the change(s) on the program, and
  • Explain how the program has, in the context of the reported change, maintained its continued compliance with NAEYC’s accreditation criteria/early childhood program standards.
• If additional questions arise, the NAEYC Academy may require verbal interviews as supplemental evidence to the written report.
• Requiring on-site verification visits* when the impact of a reported change on a program’s continued compliance with NAEYC’s accreditation performance criteria/early childhood program standards cannot be fully and satisfactorily explained through written documentation or verbal interviews.
• Requiring the NAEYC Academy to develop a systematic method, including an internal review process, for considering the impact of a documented change on a program’s continued compliance with NAEYC’s accreditation performance criteria/early childhood program standards to determine the necessity for an on-site verification visit*.

4.5a Ensuring that programs are informed that their failure to report changes to the NAEYC
Academy as outlined in 4.1 will likely result in an on-site verification visit.

*Complaints from external sources can also trigger verification visits. For the NAEYC Academy’s policy on Complaints, go to www.naeyc.org/academy.

NAEYC Academy Procedures for Verification Visits of Continued Compliance

In accordance with the NAEYC Council for Accreditation’s Policy on Verification of Continued Compliance with Accreditation Criteria and Early Childhood Program Standards the following have been established.

• Any change reported to the NAEYC Academy will be considered in the context of how the program has maintained its continued compliance with NAEYC accreditation criteria/early childhood program standards and the need for additional verification.
• The NAEYC Academy will use written documents, verbal interviews, and on-site visits for verification purposes.
• If the program’s continued compliance remains in question after additional documentation and information is obtained, a verification visit will be required. The program is responsible for the cost of the visit.
  
  
• The Academy receives and reviews the Annual Report and changes within 30 days of receiving it. Typically, the Academy will review changes in 8 major catergoies:
  • Changes in Teaching Staff
  • Changes in Ownership/Vendor/Program Governance
  • Change in Licensing Status
  • Change in Location or Physical Facility
  • Addition of Age Groups being served
  • Change in Program Administrator
  • Change in Group Size and Ratio
  • Issued Court Order or Legal Action
    
    
• Based on its review, the Academy may:
  • Determine the change requires no immediate action and request that the program update the NAEYC Academy on the impact of the reported changes in its next Annual Report;
  • Request additional documentation (e.g. copy of license and recent reports, information about experience in other accredited programs, content of training units, teaching staff or family surveys, and responding to additional criteria as applicable) or a phone interview;
  • Convene an internal verification review team to determine if an on-site visit is warranted.
    
    
• A verification visit will be necessary if a majority of the Verification Review Team members agree that the impact of a reported change on a program’s continued compliance with NAEYC’s accreditation performance criteria/early childhood program standards cannot be fully and satisfactorily explained through written documentation and/or verbal interviews. The program will be notified to complete and submit visit materials and a verification visit fee within 2 weeks of receipt of the notification that a visit is required. (A visit is likely if the program fails to report a change in licensing status, location/physical facility, ownership, program governance, age groups being served, and court orders within 90 days as required by the Verification policy.)
  
  
• If the program chooses to challenge the need for a verification visit and request a second review, it must send the request in writing within 2 weeks to a Quality Management Coordinator. The request for a second review must include additional information supplied by the program about the change and the program’s ability to maintain compliance with the accreditation criteria/early childhood program standards. This information must be information not previously provided and capable of potentially impacting the decision to require an on-site visit.
  
  
• The additional information provided by the program as part of Step 4 outlined above will be reviewed by a second internal Verification Review Team within 30 days. They will determine if an on-site visit is no longer necessary and will notify the program. The decision of the second review team will be final.
  
  
• Failure to submit the information needed by the NAEYC Academy to conduct a required on-site Verification Visit will result in revocation of NAEYC Accreditation.

Many programs have requested that the NAEYC Academy be more prescriptive regarding when an on-site Verification Visit will be required. This request cannot be fulfilled if the NAEYC Academy is to be responsive to the broad range of programs currently accredited by NAEYC and the nuances surrounding the changes that occur at these programs. As part of ongoing efforts to improve the NAEYC Academy’s performance in administering NAEYC’s early childhood program accreditation system, and as additional data is gathered from this process, the NAEYC Academy will review the current procedures to ensure they are reflective of policy and best practice.

The NAEYC Academy Appeals Process

The Council for NAEYC Accreditation provides a formal appeal process for programs that receive the following decisions from the NAEYC Academy:

• Deferral, Denial, or Revocation of Accreditation
• Denial of Candidacy
• Denial of Extension Request
• Required Verification Visit

The appeal process is available to currently accredited programs or programs seeking accreditation. The Council only reviews appeals that meet the guidelines established in this document.

NOTE: Dissatisfaction with the decision is not sufficient grounds for an appeal.

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