51³Ô¹ÏÍø

For Immediate Release

April 10, 2025Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý Ìý

WASHINGTON —

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s (51³Ô¹ÏÍø) Commission on the Accreditation of Early Childhood Higher Education Programs is pleased to announce that it has granted renewed accreditation to programs at 10 institutions during its spring 2025 meetings. There are currently 172 accredited programs across 35 states, with over 120 additional programs currently in self-study.

Early childhood professional preparation programs serve a wide range of students and prepare early childhood educators for a variety of early learning settings. Accreditation serves as a mechanism for ensuring a consistent and high level of program quality and alignment to the Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators while respecting the unique mission and context of each degree program, its host institution, and its community.

"The Unifying Framework for the Early Childhood Educator Profession highlights the centrality of higher education programs in preparing the ECE workforce, and the need for these programs to be aligned to national standards for ECE professional preparation program quality," said Mary Harrill, Senior Director of Higher Education at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø. "Through achieving 51³Ô¹ÏÍø accreditation, these programs are holding themselves accountable to their students and to the public for ensuring that their graduates are effective practitioners."

To earn and retain accreditation, professional preparation programs must demonstrate that they:

• Meet 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Higher Education Accreditation Standards;
• Respond to the unique needs of their degree candidates and communities;
• Provide intentional learning experiences aligned to the Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators for their degree candidates to obtain the knowledge and skills needed to be effective; and,
• Continuously assess and reflect on their degree candidates’ performance.

The following programs have renewed accreditation:

For more information, visit the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Early Childhood Higher Education Accreditation system website. To download a printable copy of this release, click here.