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51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation: The Right Fit for States

Leverage the national reputation of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation's brand in your community.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø understands that states’ political climates and priorities are constantly shifting. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation of Early Learning Programs is an experienced and trusted ally in sustaining quality improvement systems at the state and local levels. Working together, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation of Early Learning Programs and states can make a difference in the lives of young children.

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Why do states partner with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø?

1. The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation process is available and fully operational—there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
QRIS is multidimensional. States can leverage 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation as a ready-to-go quality assessment and improvement system that aligns with QRIS standards, allowing states to focus attention and resources on other QRIS components.

2. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation represents a shared national framework for quality in early childhood programs.
51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation has been a nationally recognized indicator of high-quality early learning programs for over 30 years. Using this national framework enables states, funders, researchers, corporate-sponsored programs, and policy makers to compare and analyze high-quality early learning programs among states even as definitions of quality vary across state lines, allowing states to preserve resources and to share best practices for improving program quality. A national accreditation system supports consistency in expectations for programs in every state.

3. Accreditation delivers quality with a more affordable price tag.
Building a system to assess and improve quality is expensive. States' financial costs for infrastructure are far greater than the $650 annual accreditation fees that average-size programs pay. As a result of these savings, many states provide accreditation support grants and incentives—a more cost-effective way to help programs demonstrate that they meet high standards.

4. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation is comprehensive.
Learning environment, teaching practices, teacher–child relationships, staff qualifications, health and safety, program administration, curriculum, child assessment, family engagement—all are critically important components of quality, and each component supports the others. We know that high-quality teacher–child interactions develop only when other quality preconditions exist. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation is a comprehensive assessment system that focuses on every one of these interrelated indicators.

5. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation develops and sustains a culture of quality.
Political climates can change overnight, and those changes can directly affect QRIS and public pre-K systems. Linking early learning program quality to 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation promotes a statewide culture of quality that can weather political and policy changes.

6. Reliability and credibility matter.
51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation boasts a 90% reliability rate among its corps of program quality assessors. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø assessors are highly experienced early childhood professionals who have worked in every state and logged thousands of classroom observations over the past 30 years. To maintain this level of reliability, assessors receive technical assistance from 51³Ô¹ÏÍø at least three times a month. States with QRIS and pre-K systems that align with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø program standards have a history of building success on this reliable foundation.

7. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation is more than an assessment tool; it changes the culture of the entire early learning program.
51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation is founded on a comprehensive body of research-based best practices. It provides a series of integrated tools for both program self-assessment and reliable rater assessment. Most important, it is a structured, multistep system designed to engage all members of program staff and families in a reflective and transformative self-study process. Intentional practice and continuous quality improvement are the hallmarks of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Accreditation.