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NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment

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Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment

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Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment

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Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators

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The professional standards and competencies describe what early childhood educators should know and be able to do.

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NAEYC has set 10 standards for early childhood programs that can help families make the right choice when they are looking for a child care center, preschool, or kindergarten. The standards and criteria are also the foundation of the NAEYC Accreditation system for early childhood programs. To earn accreditation, programs must meet all 10 standards.

Based on research on the development and education of young children, the standards were created with input from experts and educators from around the country. The standards define what NAEYC-the world's largest organization of early childhood professionals-believes all early childhood programs should provide.

Review this guide to help identify programs that meet NAEYC standards for high-quality programs.

The Standards

The program promotes positive relationships among all children and adults. It encourages each child's sense of individual worth and belonging as part of a community and fosters each child's ability to
contribute as a responsible community member.

Warm, sensitive, and responsive relationships help children feel secure. The safe and secure environments built by positive relationships help children thrive physically, benefit from learning experiences, and cooperate and get along with others.

What to look for in a program:

Children and adults feel welcome when they visit the program. Teachers help new children adjust to the program environment and make friends with other children.

Teaching staff engage in warm, friendly conversations with the children and encourage and recognize children's work and accomplishments.

Children are encouraged to play and work together.

Teachers help children resolve conflicts by identifying feelings, describing problems, and trying alternative solutions. Teaching staff never physically punish children.

The program implements a curriculum that is consistent with its goals for children and promotes learning and development in each of the following areas: social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive.

A well-planned written curriculum provides a guide for teachers and administrators. It helps them work together and balance different activities and approaches to maximize children's learning and development. The curriculum includes goals for the content that children are learning, planned activities linked to these goals, daily schedules and routines, and materials to be used.

NAEYC and the NAEYC Accreditation system do not prescribe a specific curriculum; programs can design their own or choose a commercially available curriculum that meets NAEYC's guidelines.

What to look for in a program:

Ask about the program's curriculum and how it addresses all aspects of child development. The curriculum should not focus on just one area of development.

Children are given opportunities to learn and develop through exploration and play, and teachers have opportunities to work with individual children and small groups on specific skills.

Materials and equipment spark children's interest and encourage them to experiment and learn.

Activities are designed to help children get better at reasoning, solving problems, getting along with others, using language, and developing other skills.

Infants and toddlers play with toys and art materials that "do something" based on children's actions, such as jack-in-the-box, cups that fit inside one another, and playdough.

The program uses developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate and effective teaching approaches that enhance each child's learning and development in the context of the curriculum goals.

Children have different learning styles, needs, capacities, interests, and backgrounds. By recognizing these differences and using instructional approaches that are appropriate for each child, teachers and staff help all children learn.

What to look for in a program:

Teachers carefully supervise all children.

Teachers provide time each day for indoor and outdoor activities (weather permitting) and organize time and space so that children have opportunities to work or play individually and in groups.

Children's recent work (for example, art and emergent writing) is displayed in the classroom to help children reflect on and extend their learning.

Teachers modify strategies and materials to respond to the needs and interests of individual children, engaging each child and enhancing learning.

The program is informed by ongoing systematic, formal, and informal assessment approaches to provide information on children's learning and development. These assessments occur within the context of reciprocal communications with families and with sensitivity to the cultural contexts in which children develop.

Assessment results benefit children by informing sound decisions, teaching, and program improvement.

Assessments help teachers plan appropriately challenging curriculum and tailor instruction that responds to each child's strengths and needs. Assessments can also help teachers identify children with disabilities and ensuring that they receive needed services.

What to look for in a program:

The program supports children's learning using a variety of assessment methods, such as observations, checklists, and rating scales.

Assessment methods are appropriate for each child's age and level of development and encompass all areas of development, including math, science, and other cognitive skills; language; social-emotional; and physical.

Teachers use assessment methods and information to design goals for individual children and monitor their progress, as well as to improve the program and its teaching strategies.

Families receive information about their child's development and learning on a regular basis, including through meetings or conferences.

The program promotes the nutrition and health of children and protects children and staff from illness and injury. Children must be healthy and safe in order to learn and grow. Programs must be healthy and safe to support children's healthy development.

What to look for in a program:

Teaching staff have training in pediatric first aid.

Infants are placed on their backs to sleep.

The program has policies regarding regular hand washing and routinely cleans and sanitizes all surfaces in the facility.

There is a clear plan for responding to illness, including how to decide whether a child needs to go home and how families will be notified.

Snacks and meals are nutritious, and food is prepared and stored safely.

The program employs and supports 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.

Teachers who have specific preparation, knowledge, and skills in child development and early childhood education are more likely to provide positive interactions, richer language experiences, and quality learning environments.

What to look for in a program:

Teaching staff have educational qualifications and specialized knowledge about young children and early childhood development. Ask, for example, how many teachers have Child Development Associate (CDA) credentials, associate's degrees, or higher degrees.

The program makes provisions for ongoing staff development, including orientations for new staff and opportunities for continuing education.

Teaching staff have training in the program's curriculum and work as a teaching team.

The program establishes and maintains collaborative relationships with each child's family to foster children's development in all settings. These relationships are sensitive to family composition, language, and culture. To support children's optimal learning and development, programs need to establish relationships with families based on mutual trust and respect, involve families in their children's educational growth, and encourage families to fully participate in the program.

What to look for in a program:

All families are welcome and encouraged to be involved in all aspects of the program.

Teachers and staff talk with families about their family structure and their views on childrearing and use that information to adapt the curriculum and teaching methods to the families served.

The program uses a variety of strategies to communicate with families, including family conferences, new family orientations, and individual conversations.

Program information-including policies and operating procedures-is provided in a language that families can understand.

The program establishes relationships with and uses the resources of the children's communities to support the achievement of program goals. Relationships with agencies and institutions in the community can help a program achieve its goals and connect families with resources that support children's healthy development and learning.

What to look for in a program:

The program connects with and uses museums, parks, libraries, zoos, and other resources in the community.

Representatives from community programs, such as musical performers and local artists, are invited to share their interests and talents with the children.

The staff develop professional relationships with community agencies and organizations that further the program's capacity to meet the needs and interests of children and families.

The program has a safe and healthful environment that provides appropriate and well-maintained indoor and outdoor physical environments. The environment includes facilities, equipment, and materials to facilitate child and staff learning and development.

An organized, properly equipped, and well-maintained program environment facilitates the learning, comfort, health, and safety of the children and adults who use the program.

What to look for in a program:

The facility is designed so that staff can supervise all children by sight and sound.

The program has necessary furnishings, such as hand-washing sinks, child-size chairs and tables, and cots, cribs, beds, or sleeping pads.

A variety of materials and equipment appropriate for children's ages, skills and abilities is available and kept clean, safe, and in good repair.

Outdoor play areas have fences or natural barriers that prevent access to streets and other hazards.

First-aid kits, fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and other safety equipment are installed and available.

The program effectively implements policies, procedures, and systems that support stable staff and strong personnel, and fiscal, and program management so all children, families, and staff have high-quality experiences.

Effective management and operations, knowledgeable leaders, and sensible policies and procedures are essential to building a quality program and maintaining the quality over time.

What to look for in a program:

The program administrator has the necessary educational qualifications, including a degree from a four-year college and specialized courses in early childhood education, child development, or related fields.

The program is licensed and/or regulated by the applicable state agency.

The program's written policies and procedures are shared with families and address issues such as the program's philosophy and curriculum goals, policies on guidance and discipline, and health and safety procedures.

Appropriate group sizes and ratios of teaching staff to children are maintained (for example, infants-no more than 8 children in a group, with 2 teaching staff; toddlers-no more than 12 children in a group, with 2 teaching staff; and 4-year-olds-no more than 20 children in a group, with 2 teaching staff).

Families on NAEYC-Accredited programs

"Valued teachers lead to valued children ... Accredited programs tend to attract employees who not only view themselves as educators, they consider themselves child advocates."
- Kate in San Antonio, Texas. Her child attends an NAEYC-Accredited program.

"Choosing a preschool for my first child was somewhat overwhelming, so when you find a program accredited by NAEYC, it adds peace of mind that you're making a good choice for your child."
- Jen in Torrance, California. Her child attends an NAEYC-Accredited program.

"NAEYC is an organization that can be trusted with the future of my child's education ... That is why I chose an NAEYC-Accredited center-nothing but the best."
- Jennifer in Newark, New Jersey. Her child attends an NAEYC-Accredited program.

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NAEYC has set 10 standards for early childhood programs that can help families make the right choice when they are looking for a child care center, preschool, or kindergarten. The standards and criteria are also the foundation of the NAEYC Accreditation system for early childhood programs. To earn accreditation, programs must meet all 10 standards.

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Principles of Child Development and Learning and Implications That Inform Practice

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NAEYC’s guidelines and recommendations for developmentally appropriate practice are based on the following nine principles and their implications for early childhood education professional practice.

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Most young children in Michigan, ages birth-12, are in licensed programs and it is important for these experiences to be the very best. Quality licensed programs help children learn, grow and develop.

By creating a safe, nurturing place for children to learn, explore and build relationships, quality programs set the foundation for children to be successful in school, work and life.

Great Start to Quality offers those individuals who work with early childhood programs and providers in Michigan opportunities to be directly involved.

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Great Start to Quality - Find High Quality Child Care in Michigan

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Great Start to Quality helps families find the best early learning settings for their children and helps educators improve the care they provide to children.

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Michigan Virtual - Online and Blended Learning

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Michigan's leader in professional development and free resources for educators, and online courses for students to support college and career readiness.

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Partnering with Families for Children's Success in School and Life

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Funds of Knowledge Video | HeadStart.gov

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Learn how to gather and use the funds of knowledge for children and families in the classroom. This approach will help staff ensure culturally relevant programming.

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Child Screening and Assessment | HeadStart.gov

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Screening and assessment provide valuable information about each child’s interests, strengths, and needs. Screening gives a snapshot of whether the child’s development is on track.

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Learn what it means to be Reflecting on Quality in the quality improvement process in Michigan.

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The collaboration between early childhood staff, families, and community agencies builds positive relationships. These relationships support parents’ progress toward their goals for themselves and their children.

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State Partnerships with iPD | HeadStart.gov

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Find out which states the iPD partnered with to provide professional development approval for courses. This includes detailed information about which iPD courses are approved to meet state requirements.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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“learn the signs. act early.” for early care and education

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child development resources for early care and education providers

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milestone checklists for early care and education

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Early care programs help parents track child development

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CDC's "Learn the Signs. Act Early." has free resources to help Early Care and Education providers engage families in monitoring children's developmental milestones from 2 months to 5 years of age.

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Every parent looks forward to their baby’s first smile, first words, and first steps. But what happens when a child is behind in reaching those milestones? If you are worried that your child “seems behind” compared to other children of the same age, it might be time to contact Early On.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Developmental Monitoring and Screening | CDC

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Learn about developmental monitoring and screening.

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DAP: Planning and Implementing an Engaging Curriculum to Achieve Meaningful Goals

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DAP curriculum consists of the plans for the learning experiences through which children acquire knowledge, skills, abilities, and understanding.

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Feelings-Permission Granted! with Cindy and Alison (podcast episode 316)

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Ask Them What They Need with Cindy and Alison (podcast episode 314)

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Talking About Nursery Rhymes with Cindy and Alison (podcast episode 307)

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Supporting Early Language, Physical Activity, and STEM Learning through Outdoor Time – STEMIE

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Outdoor environments can be an authentic and engaging context for supporting the early language and physical activity of children with and without disabilities. Language skills are an important foundational skill for reading comprehension (Hjetland et al., 2017), which is essential to STEM skills such as scientific (Cabell & Hwang, 2020; Siler et al., 2010; Mayer et al., 2014) and mathematical reasoning (Cartwright et al., 2022; Foster et al., 2015; Gjicali et al., 2019).Physical activity has been found to produce improvements in children’s executive function, including attention and self-control (Willoughby et al., 2018), which are also important foundational skills for STEM (Willoughby et al., 2021; Ribner et al., 2023). In this blog, we describe concrete strategies for utilizing outdoor spaces and routines as a context for supporting early language, physical activity, and consequently, STEM learning.

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Creating Community Partnerships for High Quality Early STEM Learning – STEMIE

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Early STEM learning is important for each and every child and early STEM learning opportunities are everywhere! We know that there are inequities for many children in accessing early STEM learning including opportunity gaps for children with disabilities or those in underserved communities (Clements et al., 2020; Sarama et al., 2018). Children’s museums are spaces that foster inclusive STEM learning for all community members and we happen to have an amazing children’s museum right here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Kidzu embeds STEM and inclusion into learning spaces for young children, including a space, The Nest, designed specifically for infants and toddlers to engage in inclusive STEM learning experiences with each other and their educators and caregivers.

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The ECTA Center is a program of the FPG Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, funded through cooperative agreement number H326P170001 from the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the Department of Education's position or policy.

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Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive! | Help Me Grow National Center

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Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive! and Help Me Grow: A Partnership to Advance Developmental Promotion, Surveillance, Screening and Linkage to Services for All Children Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive! was created as an unprecedented multi-faceted initiative, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S.

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Use these resources to advocate for early childhood education.

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Early On is Michigan’s system for helping families of infants and toddlers, birth to age 3 who have developmental delay(s) and/or disabilities. Early On supports and partners with families to promote the development of their infants and toddlers in developmental areas, such as: